The Church, shifting gears…

    Yes, to those who are reading, this post is about the church, the body, the bride of Christ. With that said I would just like to take this minute to intro my thoughts about it. First off, I am not going to slam the church as it now stands. I know it’s kinda popular right now to say how bad the church is doing and point out all the things that are wrong and what all needs to change, etc. etc. We are all guilty, well at least I am, of being a little negative in regards to the present reality of the church. I had a history of complaining about it, until one night the Lord straight up rebuked me for rebuking the church. Basically He just cut my heart in two on this topic and said, “That’s my wife you are talking about, I know what I’m doing with her and I will have my way.” This little encounter led me to a season of repentance and of really getting a burden to help the bride to come into her calling instead of telling her how ugly she is. In other words, I realized that if I’m not prepared to help her then I have no right to criticise her. Remember, the Lord desires mercy, He longs to be merciful. It’s funny how I can encounter the mercy of the Lord in my life in such abundance and yet not extend it with the same abundance. Sure, I’m not as cool as Jesus but He still wants me to give freely of what I have recieved.

    With all that said, I will now proceed to my thoughts on the church and the season I believe the Lord has us in. It’s easy at IHOP to think of what we are doing as normal, just because we do it every day. And yet we forget that the whole rest of the body does it completely different than we do and that is so cool. But I do think there is a shifting of gears ahead, indeed it is already happening. What I am talking about is the shift from mainstream, big building, lots of programs, Sunday morning as usual Christianity to grassroots, low profile, simplistic gospel living. I think we (the body) are gonna start returning to our apostolic roots. Here’s what I am mean by apostolic roots: fasting, prayer, giving, boldness in witnessing, intimacy between our brothers and sisters, and in general, true fellowship. I think the shift away from the present reality into house churches is looming in the horizon. Obviously I am not saying anything somebody else hasn’t already thought of or said but what strikes me is the speed at which it is seeming to happen. The only question is, why is it happening so quickly, why are people abandoning the mega-church model and becoming more intimate when it comes to meeting together with fellow believers? The answer……prayer! God is awakening hunger and desire in His body to encounter Him in the place of prayer. Let’s face it, there are a few churches out there that have managed to flow in prayer corporately without losing members but hey, it’s just easier to pray with 5-20 people than it is with 200-300. Now this isn’t the only reason but I do believe it is the main one. As I already mentioned, we are coming back to our Judeo-Christian roots, the book of Acts model if you will. There is a need for us to engage our hearts in prayer in a real, tangible way, that just can’t happen as practically in bigger churches as it can in smaller settings. There are those who actually desire to see the Lord move in their midst, be it at prayer meetings, lunches, places of business, whatever. The trend to house churches is not just a trend, I believe its an awakening.

So, to wrap up, I think we are in an exciting season as the fellowship of believers is concerned. I know this is on a lot of peoples radar screens and it’s fun to watch. My only hope is that those who seem to be on the cutting edge of the prayer movement would actually engage the bride in a productive way i.e., by pouring out and into her for her destiny instead of tucking tail and running in another direction. We are all one body and He will have ONE pure and spotless bride. I aim to see that I help with the process, in my own life and in the lives of those around me. Moral of the story: encourage each other into holiness, righteousness, and intimacy, its the only way for true unity and love to grow. We have to touch Jesus first and then we have to help others touch Him. Yes, I think it’s just that simple. Read the book of Acts and then do it. Blessings to you all, He knows what He is doing, let’s set our hearts to agree, Amen?