10-26-2011
Because I am a Christian. Because that doesn't mean I have it all together.. Because grace and knowing my Savior is the only reason I don't give in when I feel like I just can't endure it for one second more or when the enemy is taunting me with lies tied up in the past. Jesus. That's why I won't hide the truth and the ugliness that goes on with illness. It's real and saying cool lingo like "I'm not going to partner with it" doesn't make it disappear. I am a real woman with real sin. I have hurts. I am not immune to acting out in my flesh.
As a believer we tend to hold ourselves a certain way. We ought to be the realest people out there, but there is a stigma against being completely real, especially about the ugly bits. We put on smiles, and say we are fine to those that ask us. We serve, we lead at youth groups, we go to Christian events. We "forget" that it is by grace and grace alone that we are redeemed.
We are allowed to be open. We are allowed to be vulnerable. We are allowed to admit we are broken at times. When we stop admitting our sins and failures, then we stop knowing that it is by the blood of Jesus that we are saved. Because it becomes about preserving the Christian reputation. We allow ourselves to feel guilty when we need help. We feel we must keep it all together or we will not be as spiritual as the others.
No, my friends, no. What makes us spiritual is being able to be honest with ourselves and with others when we struggle. Our addictions, our fears, our emotions. When we start putting on the facade, when we start living in that space that says we must have it together because we are representatives of Christ, that is when we fail to accurately reveal who our Savior really is. If we had it all together then we wouldn't need Jesus.
Today:
I've been praying a ton about church and what it says in the book of Acts is not what church in America has become today. I am grateful to have the freedom we do here to worship God. We can read our Bibles at Starbucks and we can find a myriad of churches on every corner. We can find one to tailor fit our needs with just the right ministries and the right music and the right pastor. But the problem I see in all of that is it becomes all about "me, me, me." It becomes about how I can be fed, how much I like the music, how much I get from it. That is not Biblical to me.
I realize this is going to sting some people. Good. I want it to. I want to challenge you. I want to be challenged. Is there truth to what I am saying?
We are called to spread the gospel We are called to love people. We are called to serve God no matter what we are doing- whether it is working at McDonald's or babysitting or mowing lawns or even cleaning toilets. We are called to be representatives of Christ regardless of which church you call home or what awesome ministry we are serving at.
Ministry is great. I have been privileged to help lead in some awesome places. It was fun and it was a blessing. I learned a lot and I met wonderful brothers and sisters who have become lifelong friends. What I am saying is that we don't need a church to do those things.
We need the word of God. We need an active prayer life. We need solitude with our Creator. We need to worship in song. We need to serve others. We need to live for the Kingdom. We need to give away of ourselves. We need to love people. We need to go to the nations. We need fellowship that is authentic and challenging.
That's it.
I love church. I believe in attending church. I love hearing the word of God spoken out to a congregation. I love worshiping with a room full of other believers and hearing the sweet, sweet sound. Those are beautiful things. However, in my search for a new home church I have started to notice some things.
Things I never would have found to be an issue before.
While it is great to equip believers with materials and teachings to promote spiritual growth, church is not supposed to be about us. Church is supposed to be about Jesus. Church is supposed to be sharing the gospel. I find it disheartening that money is being spent on bulletins and coffee mugs and pens and items that have nothing to do with people being saved. I find it an issue that materials and books and cds and whatnot are sold for a profit in a church. Any church. Bibles should be handed out. I am not blasting having books and cds and materials. I have those. I am blasting that in a church where we proclaim that knowing Jesus is free and that the gospel is for people, why are they charged to further their relationship with God? When Jesus walked the earth He didn't need a hot new hardcover bestseller or the latest in contemporary worship to reach people. He shared THE TRUTH. He shared scripture. Equipping someone with a Bible is a lifetime investment. Seriously. Did we forget how angry Jesus got when people were profiting at church?
“ And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all of them who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
”
— Matthew 21:12-13
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
John 2:13-16
Okay, we're obviously not selling cattle today but we're selling cds and materials and not understanding that it is the VERY SAME THING that pissed Jesus off back than.
I've been doing a ton of research about certain churches and things that I took at face value before. My spirit is very open, which is a great thing, but it can also be a hindrance. I am looking back on the last few years and realizing that a lot of the stuff I just accepted without contrasting it to the scriptures.
The church I first came to know the Lord at was a very wonderful place for a baby believer. The doctrine is sound, the connections made forged deep bonds, and there was authentic community. Today, as I reflect on all of this I feel quite lucky to have been grounded in a right place. Because of what God did through that first home church, I am able to look at the last few years and take off the rose colored glasses.
I started attending a more charismatic church in 2006, and straddled both my previous church and that one for about a year. I knew I was being called to this new church but I was so hesitant to step out and do it. Finally in 2007 I started attending the charismatic church. God did some amazing things in my life during my time there. He opened up my prayer life to a place I never knew existed, showed me how to worship in freedom, brought me to the Philippines, and healed some majorly hurt places in my heart.
I recognize that and I am so appreciative that He allowed me to step that way and discover more of who He is during that time. I fell in absolute love with Jesus in a way I never had before. At the time I attributed that to the church. Completely. I was caught up in all of the amazing things, the "move" of God over that place. I attended core classes, started bringing the kids I cared for, started serving at the junior high ministry, attended conferences galore, etc. I was all about it.
Now, this may sound nuts, but I feel, after being away for some time, as if the blinders are coming off. In 2008, while serving, there were some things that pin pricked at my soul but I ignored them. Little inconsistencies in some of the leadership, etc. I won't bust it all out because I still respect that church and the Pastor. I am aware that all churches will have flaws. We're all human and we all sin. With that said, I found myself changing and it felt all good. Blissful. I was anointed, and full of His spirit... I was getting healed up and being used for His kingdom. Sense a little sarcasm here? Those things are true, but what is also true is that I was becoming arrogant in a subtle way. I was becoming super fanatical and not in a Godly way.
In 2009 I went on the above mentioned trip to the Philippines. It was there that I began to learn even more about the church I held in such high esteem. I was shocked. When I returned to the states I started to observe more closely. I attended corporate prayer like I did every week and I watched. I listened. I began to see that while not all of the hearts were insincere, that there was indeed, an insincerity amongst the main leadership. Not all of them. I don't want to slander. I want to be factual. Still, I maintained loyalty to my church. I did stop attending a prophetic class and corporate prayer, and I stepped down from serving the youth. I was already sick at the time and it made sense to step back at the time. Once I stepped down, I literally became a nobody. I no longer fit in. "Friends" stopped saying hi to me in the halls, no one invited me to hang out, and I sort of faded into the backdrop.
For over a year I still attended this church. I watched as the rythym began to change and it started to become about money. They are building a massive campus and so it just got showier and showier. Before that announcement, we'd already launched a sister campus in another town. There were podcasts online, more products sold. The feeling over the place started to change. Since I've been especially ill the last 2 years I was attending as much as I could on the weekends and watching online when I couldn't make it. But something had changed.
I felt like it must be me. I was the one who was sick. I was the one who couldn't attend every function. I must be the ungodly one. I must have been doing something wrong to not warrant the fellowship I thought I had. I wrestled with guilt for a long time, and even after moving cross country, I pondered as to whether the enemy was telling me lies in order to sway me. Obviously we know 1 Peter 5:8: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." I get that and so I wondered if I was being devoured slowly.
I believe in healing, I have been healed from cervical cancer growth and from lumbar osteoarthritis. I believe in miracles. I believe in spiritual gifts. I believe and know that God is able and can do all things, whatever He wants to do. I believe and because I believe I have to be accountable to what He says in His word.
However, and I say this with some hesitation, I have recently begun to pray for clarity over everything I have opened myself up to these last years. There came a point where I felt like I was commanding God to do something "in His name" versus calling out to Him entirely and I started to realize that in casting out these things in brothers and sisters we sure are giving the devil major credit. Thankfully in God's infinite grace and mercy, He still grew me during my times of self-obsession. I wouldn't even classify it as that, but for lack of better words, that is what it feels that I am coming out from.
The thing is that it was so darn subtle, and I was being a "good" Christian so it was easy to miss in myself. I was caught up in spiritual hype and in "working for the Kingdom." Again, I believe in advancing the gospel. I believe in serving. I believe in attending a healthy, Bible grounded church. I believe in fellowship. I believe, I believe, I believe. I also believe 2 Corinthians 13:5: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?"
I do not know that all of what I experienced was inherently "bad." I do know that when something feels off in your spirit it means we should pray on it and seek wisdom and TRUTH over what feels pretty.
Lots of things feel good and sound good. It is a cinch to start to compromise even while doing good things.
One major issue that contradicts scripture is that I saw people putting themselves and others on a pedestal. Who has the most followers on Facebook or Twitter. I saw elitism acted out. On the weekends preaching about loving and caring for each other, but these elite leaders kept to themselves and those they deemed worthy of their attention. I saw someone preach about giving away and not hoarding up treasures on earth while wearing $200 jeans on a pulpit. I saw ipads and iphones and mania over the latest gadget. Not to say those are wrong to own, or that God doesn't want us to be blessed. It is not my place to determine those things. But for me? For the life I am called to in Christ? It doesn't gel well. When Jesus called His first disciples to Himself he did not say to hoard up stuff. No, he said:
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-22
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6:20
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 18:22
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.
Luke 9:1-6
In NONE of these verses does it say we need to have more in order to follow God. It just says to follow Him. Someone who reads this is going to bristle because it doesn't fit into our way of living here in America. Someone is going to think I am completely radical and not understanding of the fact that God does not call us to be homeless or poor. Okay. Okay. I can understand that standpoint, and I do agree on some level. God wants to bless His people. God wants to give us what we need in order to live on this earth.
GIVE US WHAT WE NEED.
Do we need iphones?
Do I need a car?
Do I need a laptop?
Do I need new clothes?
Those are luxuries that most of the world cannot afford. We live in a spoiled nation. We do. And I have seen poverty. REAL poverty. I have seen children and babies and women and men laying in buildings deemed as hospitals in another country where there is no X-Ray machine or prescriptions or even proper medical equipment. I have seen poverty. I have been well off (not rich but growing up we were spoiled- my brother and I) and I have been so poor I could not afford toilet paper. I have had many days where I have wondered where my meals would come from. I have been without medical insurance. I have also been blessed beyond measure. A used car from my first home church in 2005. Second hand laptops. Medication. Trips. I live in the favor of the Lord and he provides my every legitimate need and then some.
So going into a fancy church building with air conditioning and people in their expensive, trendy clothes with their fancy props does not show me Jesus quite like the homeless woman whose toothless mouth pops open in a slow smile when handing her a bag of fast food or the young child who runs around on the lawn singing her heart out to a God she loves.
I've kind of went off on a tangent here. ;)
Back to what I was saying. I have an open spirit. Because of that I am convicted of the fact that some of this time that I was worshiping and crying out to God, perhaps I was also inviting in whatever bogus junk was being splayed in the atmosphere around me. I have invited unclean spirits to work in my life. I'm not certain which ones but I know that something is tweaking in my spiritual life and I will not stop praying and rebuking until Jesus tells me it is done. For example, I visited a church here in my new hometown. I've visited 3 actually. 2 of the churches are nice. Welcoming people, etc. This 3rd one I visited immediately drew me in. There was prayer beforehand so I mosied into the sanctuary and just soaked it all in. There was a cd playing somewhere, a woman singing about the love of Jesus. Then the service started and I got caught up in worship. Seriously it is one of my most favorite things on the planet to worship God in song. Then I started to get palpitations. Yes, palpitations happen frequently with Fibro and anxiety and mitral valve prolapse. So I never stop and associate it with what it going on spiritually. That has got to be one of the major things I am praying on right now! How my illnesses are connected to the spiritual... so anyway, they were very severe and did not go away. The pastor started preaching and he was screeching and people were shouting out their "Amens" and "Hallelujahs!" Someone started speaking in tongues while the pastor was preaching and he paused and then afterward just kept going.
I Corinthians 14:27-28, "If anyone speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, each taking his turn; and let one person interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let the those persons keep silence in the church and speak to themselves and to God".
I Corinthians 14:18-19, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all: Yet IN THE CHURCH I had rather speak five words with my UNDERSTANDING, that by my voice I might teach OTHERS also, than ten thousand MEANINGLESS words in an unknown tongue".
I Corinthians 14:23, "If therefore the whole church came together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there came in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, won't they say that you are mad?"
I Corinthians 14:39-40, "Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order".
I once attended a "required" class (really?! Even that is bogus. God didn't say in scripture to attend 5 classes and you are suddenly ready to follow Him and lead. No, He said to follow Him. That's it. Simple.) and at the end we were called up front if we wanted the "baptism of the Holy Spirit." At that time it was explained that this was different from salvation because it would "activate" our spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues. Someone prayed over me and I didn't feel anything different. She started to pressure me to say something. Anything. It was hugely uncomfortable. After that night I would pray and I started to try this tongues thing out. I started babbling and honestly wondered if I was speaking in tongues. It didn't feel like it. I felt like I was just strumming words together.
I believe in this gift. I believe it is relevant today. I also believe that not everyone has this spiritual gift, just as not everyone has prophetic or teaching or pastoral gifts. We each have our own and when it is force fed into a congregation that they have all of this inside of themselves and need only to unlock it, well that just fully discredits God now doesn't it? He doesn't need me to "unlock" my gifts. He does that on His own. It also puts a lot on us and takes the reliance off of God.
So, I'm sitting in that church and I'm into it. Sort of. My emotions are stirred, that is for sure. I feel a response within, which I have attributed to the Holy Spirit all of these times. I even stayed an extra 2 hours after the service because worship and prayer was flowing. I had a woman come sit next to me asking if she could pray for me. I agreed. I love prayer. But it felt forced. And she was speaking so emphatically that she was blowing my hair all over my face and she didn't pray anything specific. She just kept saying the same thing over and over... and it did not pertain to me one iota.
So I came home and started praying and studying online. I felt drawn in but also a fear was creeping in. Which was of God and which part was the devil roaring around trying to get me to doubt the miracles? To doubt God? For this I had to look back on the character of Jesus. He does not bring fear, He brings peace. He does not bring doubt, He brings assurance. There is NO confusion with God. Confusion is from the enemy. The fact that I feel a literal fear to walk back into that church means something. It also means something that a part of me is drawn in.
This leads me to question what unclean spirits I have been coasting along with. Obviously a believer cannot be possessed, but we can be oppressed and those little demons will ride on our backs for as long as we will let them.
I have been praying earnestly for the reality to be revealed. The other night I was bare bones with God. I decided to abstain from listening to worship on my ipod for a few days and to not take in anything spiritually related, except for prayer and the Bible. It was over dishing out leftover Chinese food in the kitchen that I felt God's presence. I adore how He comes in at the most unexpected places! Anyway, He told me to read Matthew 16:6:
“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Whew.
The very next morning I opened my Bible and the first words I saw were Mark 12:38-40
As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.
If that isn't an answer to my prayer I do not know what is!
Last night I turned on the tube and a show called The Outer Limits was on. Here is a synopsis of the episode:
"Ezra is a traveling faith healer. Ezra notices a young follower with a lot of potential and he trains this prodigy to be a minister. Soon, the student is performing miracles that cannot be explained or accounted for. Ezra feels threatened, he must find out what is going on - is it the hand of God or something else? After sneaking a closer look at the Bible that his understudy seemingly draws his power from, Ezra notices strange electronic circuitry and realizes that God isn't involved in this man's powers. After being framed for the murder of the town's Sheriff, Ezra finds out that the new minister is actually an Alien with malicious intentions. Ezra cannot convince his daughter of the facts and appears to be a nutcase, so in a last-ditch effort to redeem himself - Ezra attacks the young preacher with a pistol unsuccessfully (he heals himself) and is mortally shot by the police. As Ezra lies dying, he manages to squeeze off one last round right through the bible. The bible short circuits and the alien is killed/vaporized."
NOT A COINCIDENCE.
This faith healer was a fake. He had people in the audience that he specifically "healed" but it was all for show. He got jealous and greedy when the alien started using his powers to heal people.
It sounds nutty, but roll with me here.
This leads me to wonder about all of the "manifestations" people claim is God. God is not violent, so why do manifestations include jerking and shaking? Why have I myself been in worship and felt a part of my body twitch or respond? That seems to oppose the character of God very strongly.
I have rolled around on the floor crying and laughing with joy uncontrollable. I have felt the fire of God upon a a group of people, upon myself. I have been slain in the spirit. That felt like the Holy Spirit. Peace, light, pure.
But what about when it is not peaceful? What about when it feels wrong?
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1
but test them all; hold on to what is good
1 Thessalonians 5:21
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Matthew 24:5-8
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12
I am far from legalistic. I don't think it's about rules and regulations, but I am slowly coming to understand that it isn't just about the party either.
I still haven't determined which church will be called home.
I am still full of questions that I am taking up in prayer.
Lately Abba has brought friendships back into my life. I've had the ones that have sustained these last 2 years of sickness crazy, but in my isolation many have been weeded away. I feel a new season coming into vision. One where I interact more with people in my life who I have not connected with in awhile. My friend actually came to visit this past weekend and in talking with her God showed me some things that I have been neglecting. Simple things that I kind of stopped doing along the way. Outward signs of my devotion to Him. I feel intensely grateful that He loves me so much that he enabled her to come here and remind me of who I am in Him. She doesn't know it, but our conversation and praying together, and just being with someone I love and trust so much in the Lord, is really pivotal in a way I cannot fully convey.
Another friend is going through a divorce and God has afforded me the opportunity to connect and share and communicate. It is encouraging to have people in my sphere who are genuine and who know me. People who I am invested in and who are invested in me. That is another thing that lacked at the church I last called home. The "friendships" I made there were contingent on my attendance. Once I stepped down from leadership I became invisible. That says to me that the relationships were not genuine. They were for show. Hefty prayers and lovey-dovey declarations that fall to nothing after you get sick or go through hardship. I have 1 actual friend from my time there. 1 out of thousands. 1.
Wow.
Another thing is that there was so much emphasis on healing and on "giving it to Jesus" that you are made to feel guilty if you aren't healed. The attitude is that you must be in some sin or you don't have enough faith if you aren't healed straight away. I once brought a teenager to the front who needed prayer for anxiety attacks. He was prayed over, accepted Christ, and then immediately brushed aside. As if his very real health problems would just be fixed. Easy peasy. I could see the discouragement on his face. He came to get counsel. He came to get prayer. Instead, an arrogant leader basically told him to eff off.
That is NOT Jesus. That is NOT Biblical.
I have been sick for the last 2 years and for a long part of that I felt so guilty. A part of that is Fibromyalgia and the other part is that it was so ingrained in me that if I was sick I didn't have enough faith. I reached out several times and not one response. Now, I'm not one who needs to be babied. I don't feel that it is anyone's responsibility to help me or fix me or be there for me at the drop of a dime. No. But I do expect that if you pastor at a church, or declare yourself a leader, that that means you are a part of shepherding a brethren. That means IT IS your responsibility when your people come to you and ask for help, for prayer. It was stated so many times that we are to pray for the people in our sphere of influence. Well, duh. We should be prayer warriors! BUT, to be told that leadership is not responsible for that is absolute bananas. I call bs. Being on the top tier of some fancy church chain does not validate that you get to ignore the needs of your congregation while you feast on expensive dinners (as observed) and stick to your clique of "upper class" friends in the church body. That is completely false. I personally want to say sorry to you if you ever visited that church (I will not write names but if you were affected there I am sorry) and received a snooty attitude such as that. It is wrong and does not exemplify the Jesus I know.
I am thankful to know Jesus. I am so thankful that He has given me His word as a guide, and that He has given me friendships that are in Him and Him alone. I am grateful that He took me from the dark places I have sought out and found comfort in. I am amazed that He is still teaching me. ;)
I am madly, head over heels in love with God, and I am excited to discover everything He is showing me right now.
More, more, more!
