Friday, August 14, 2009

Churches We Can't Help (Pt 2)

Thanks for all the feedback on the previous post. Here's the second part...

The next church you can't help is the one who expects the pastor to make a greater investment than they are willing to make. As we mature in Christ we should want to invest more and more of ourselves into our church family and advancing the Kingdom of God. Remember when we first accepted Christ? We were all excited. We wanted to be at church all the time and around those God was using to help us grow. As we develop spiritually that should become stronger and not diminish, which so often happens. Our prayer should be, "God help me retain my enthusiasm for the house of God and His people." Be available. Volunteer to help whenever the church has a function going on. You will be blessed as you bless others.

The last point I want to make is this:

You can't help a church who refuses to spend and invest their time in prayer and the Word in order to bring transformation. It is not enough just to go to church and listen to the pastor. Each church member needs to spend time conversing with God, getting to know Him.

You get to know Him by reading the Word regularly. Sure there will be days we skip our reading, but that should not be the norm. Each one of us has a best friend we love to spend time with. We love to talk to them. If this person is a true friend, then you will both talk together, back and forth. The conversation will not be one sided.

Talk to God, then sit quietly and allow Him to speak to your spirit. He may even direct you to a certain scripture to read. He disires for us to get to know Him. Make sure you are spending the time you need in order for your spirit to be transformed and encourage others within your influence to do the same.

I trust we are all part of a church that is seeing God move in awesome ways. If we don't see that happening, ask ourself if we a part of a church that cannot be helped, or am I someone that needs to change my perspective on things? If we find we are part of a church that cannot be helped, maybe it is best that we move on, in order for us to be able to spiritually grow and mature.

Believe me, I understand the thought, "Maybe, I can help them. God can use me here." Those thoughts may be true; but, if you have been in the church a while and it is not going anywhere, it is time for you to move on. You must move on for your own spiritual health.

Maybe you have wanted to move on at one time and your spouse encouraged you to stay in the church. Later, you both changed your position, your spouse was ready to leave and you were the one encouraging to stay. Be very careful with this, because you do not want to stay too long. That is what happened to us. We loved the church and wanted to see it move forward in what God desired for it. The reality was, we needed to move on long before we did, because it affected our spiritual health. It became a situation that caused me to not want to be in ministry ever again. God had a way of bringing about healing, causing His vision and call to resurface; but, it was at a great cost. Please be careful and earnestly seek God's wisdom in this kind of a situation. He definitely wants to lead, so let Him.

Thanks for reading and may this be the start of a fresh, new journey for each of you in your walk with God. May He take you to new levels of leadership in the ministries you are in. Blessings!

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