You never know the oppression you live under until it's been lifted. You never know the right direction to go in until you take that first step. I am experiencing both the freedom and the direction.
Before I took that first step, the devil was in my ear telling me, "no good Christian would ever walk away from the Sunday ritual." That last word "ritual" was the mistake he made with his effort to convince me. I kept saying to myself, "I'm sick of the rituals. They aren't feeding my soul."
The truth is, only in a few rare churches will the Holy Spirit be allowed to come. I am looking for that church. That's the one for me. The one where there's no routine. Just a gathering of people loving Christ and looking to worship Him and when He comes to inhabit the praises of His people, He's allowed to come! But I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off looking and bouncing from service to service. Why not Kell? Because, I'm not putting myself through the disappointment when it turns out to be another dead church.
I love the book of Isaiah!! It's my book. God wrote it for me (and others seeking this particular message). I especially love chapter 58, even though it never seems to be recognized for the truth contained therein. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" Isa. 58:6. And He, God, tells us what is an acceptable fast unto Him..."to loose the bands of wickedness, TO UNDO THE HEAVY BURDENS, and to LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE, and that you BREAK EVERY YOKE." vs. 6. "...to deal your bread to the hungry and bring the poor that are cast out to your house, when you see the naked, you cover him and that you don't hide yourself from your own flesh." vs.7. It says a few more things but I want to skip down to verse 13 which speaks of the sabbath day. Let me tell you what God does NOT say, "go to church." Listen to what he DOES say, "If you turn your foot from the sabbath, from DOING YOUR PLEASURE on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:" and then vs. 14 says, "THEN, shall you delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth..."
Guess what? That does not mean if you'll make it a habit to go somewhere particular because it's labeled as a godly place to be on a particular day, then I'll accept you and love you. No, in fact, in means just what it says, "if your true heartfelt desire is to be with me on this day instead of in the world doing what you want to do, if you'll extend yourself beyond your own universe to see me and the love I want to share with you, if I become your breath and heartbeat for just a day, then..."
It's important to note that He's looking for our efforts and desires to honor Him. He's not looking for some church doctrine to tell us what to do, and we obey faithfully so as to earn our brownie points. If this is all He had for me then I'd be following all the other robots to church and telling myself that I'm a good Christian and this is how I prove it. I'm not like that in my soul. I know He deserves more than my obedience to church rituals and doctrines. He deserves my all, and my all goes deeper than the surface acts I can perform for others to see.
I've never been more alive than when pouring out of myself to a needy soul. My idea of clothing the naked is wrapping my arms around them or my kind words and taking away their vulnerability with my limited human efforts but letting His infinite love flow through me to complete the job. My idea of feeding the hungry is telling them there's a love greater than any a man or woman can give them and sharing the love of Jesus with them. For truly, the hunger of the soul is the most ravenous.
May be this is what God has for me in particular. I'm not trying to convince the world that church is bad or that people should quit going. Absolutely not!! I'm trying to say that we owe Him more than our presence in church and that being there doesn't make us righteous. I'm trying to say that if you're not alive while in church then may be you're denying the true ministry God has for you.
Before I took that first step, the devil was in my ear telling me, "no good Christian would ever walk away from the Sunday ritual." That last word "ritual" was the mistake he made with his effort to convince me. I kept saying to myself, "I'm sick of the rituals. They aren't feeding my soul."
The truth is, only in a few rare churches will the Holy Spirit be allowed to come. I am looking for that church. That's the one for me. The one where there's no routine. Just a gathering of people loving Christ and looking to worship Him and when He comes to inhabit the praises of His people, He's allowed to come! But I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off looking and bouncing from service to service. Why not Kell? Because, I'm not putting myself through the disappointment when it turns out to be another dead church.
I love the book of Isaiah!! It's my book. God wrote it for me (and others seeking this particular message). I especially love chapter 58, even though it never seems to be recognized for the truth contained therein. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" Isa. 58:6. And He, God, tells us what is an acceptable fast unto Him..."to loose the bands of wickedness, TO UNDO THE HEAVY BURDENS, and to LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE, and that you BREAK EVERY YOKE." vs. 6. "...to deal your bread to the hungry and bring the poor that are cast out to your house, when you see the naked, you cover him and that you don't hide yourself from your own flesh." vs.7. It says a few more things but I want to skip down to verse 13 which speaks of the sabbath day. Let me tell you what God does NOT say, "go to church." Listen to what he DOES say, "If you turn your foot from the sabbath, from DOING YOUR PLEASURE on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:" and then vs. 14 says, "THEN, shall you delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth..."
Guess what? That does not mean if you'll make it a habit to go somewhere particular because it's labeled as a godly place to be on a particular day, then I'll accept you and love you. No, in fact, in means just what it says, "if your true heartfelt desire is to be with me on this day instead of in the world doing what you want to do, if you'll extend yourself beyond your own universe to see me and the love I want to share with you, if I become your breath and heartbeat for just a day, then..."
It's important to note that He's looking for our efforts and desires to honor Him. He's not looking for some church doctrine to tell us what to do, and we obey faithfully so as to earn our brownie points. If this is all He had for me then I'd be following all the other robots to church and telling myself that I'm a good Christian and this is how I prove it. I'm not like that in my soul. I know He deserves more than my obedience to church rituals and doctrines. He deserves my all, and my all goes deeper than the surface acts I can perform for others to see.
I've never been more alive than when pouring out of myself to a needy soul. My idea of clothing the naked is wrapping my arms around them or my kind words and taking away their vulnerability with my limited human efforts but letting His infinite love flow through me to complete the job. My idea of feeding the hungry is telling them there's a love greater than any a man or woman can give them and sharing the love of Jesus with them. For truly, the hunger of the soul is the most ravenous.
May be this is what God has for me in particular. I'm not trying to convince the world that church is bad or that people should quit going. Absolutely not!! I'm trying to say that we owe Him more than our presence in church and that being there doesn't make us righteous. I'm trying to say that if you're not alive while in church then may be you're denying the true ministry God has for you.
