...do you have the hope, the life, the spirit needed to stand... to persevere and conquer? If not, find your secret place, enter in and find your way back into God’s heart. His is open to you… is yours open to him?
One morning I asked God what was the root of the Laodicean church’s demise (you know the one God spit out of his mouth because they were neither hot nor cold) and I felt he told me “self”. He went on: “They are engaged in benevolent activities - serving others, serving their families, serving their local body, but not serving Me. They are working for their own gain, their own kingdoms, their own notoriety. The secret place is empty. They are doing ‘good’ for goodness sake but not for Mine. Most of what they do I have never asked of them, and they are tired, overwhelmed and burnt out.”
I felt convicted. I serve, serve, serve my family, my friends, my neighbors… and often times the secret place takes a hit because I am not fully engaged or present. He wants ALL of me, not just a ‘half hearted hello, minister to my body Lord, oh, here are my requests, gotta go, the kid is up’ type interaction.
This conversation with Him reminded me of a blog post from March 2009:
I was chatting with an acquaintance asking for help with a retreat I was coordinating. They said they were too busy. I felt compassion and asked what their weekly schedule looked like. They responded with a litany: Monday, BSF; Tuesday, The Thing; Wednesday, mid week church service; Thursday, community group; Friday – well I have to leave that open – I might have a date; Saturday, sleep in and then play with my friends in the afternoon and evening; Sunday, church, late lunch and hanging out with my friends…
I left the conversation disheartened – not because I didn’t garner the volunteer I was seeking – but because of the selfish, self-centered, narcissistic lifestyle this individual was living. Was there anything wrong with the activities they were involved in? No. Was there anything immoral? No. Was there anything wicked or dishonest? No.
What shocked me was every activity was “self” focused – they benefited from all in which they were involved. Bible study – they get fed; social networking group – they make contacts, friends and get fed; church – they get fed; community group – they get fed; hanging out with friends – they get fed. I was flabbergasted to realize my trim, toned, well-built friend…was fat!
What causes physical “fatness”? Self- indulgence, overeating, lack of exercise and discipline. Spiritually, this happens as well – constant feeding without the “work out”…equals fat, lazy Christians. The pitiful point is they don’t realize it – hedonism blinds…
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The secret place can be boring and uneventful to the uninitiated. Read my Bible? Pray? = BORING! Like anything, it is all about practice, repetition and trial. It is an exercise, a regimen, a workout… you have to practice, practice, practice and it gets easier, more exciting, and may I say, FUN!
God did not send his son just as a sacrifice for sin - there is so much MORE. We are his representative body here on earth, aided by Holy Spirit to wreck havoc on the dominion of darkness. It is getting darker and darker folks… do you have the hope, the life, the spirit needed to stand in this next season, to persevere and conquer? If not, find your secret place, enter in and find your way back into God’s heart. His is open to you… is yours open to him?
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