Dear Church: Arise Sleeper and Fight
Does the battle stop because you choose to not be apart of it? Does the enemy stop attacking because you've had enough, you're too tired to fight, it hurts too much? Does he retreat because you decide to not give him the time of day? No. The enemy has one goal. To steal, kill and destroy and nothing is going to stop him from that.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10
You decide it's not your battle it doesn't affect you then you are only deciding he wins and you are going to give that win to him freely. I am tired of a church that refuses to fight. I look around and see a church that professes Christ and trusts Him but they refuse to do anything with what He has given them. I see a church that holds out a golden platter and says so what are you going to give me now? It's hard not to understand this church I see in this western world, after all, we expect everything to be given to us and have been taught this from a young age. We hear, and watch about extreme struggle, even struggle ourselves but we distance what doesn't involve us and say it's not my battle. I don't see victors in our church who win battles for all but I see victims without love for others or themselves.
Bad things happen and I watch as our churches lie down, and cries. They don't fight back. Sickness attacking and I watch people hide from each other, I see them cry that it's not fair. It's not fair, in fact, it was never supposed to happen but the enemy came along and he stole. The enemy came like a thief in the night the darkest places in your life and he stole. He stole your health from you, that peace, that joy, that marriage, those relationships, he stole your innocence, your safety, provision, identity, love, hope, understanding, and what did you do? You probably did what I did too I cried, I played victim, I cried on the floor this isn't fair. but ya know what, what do you do when someone steals from you? You get angry, you get the cops involved, you beat that intruder with a bat, you take back what is yours. So why church are we allowing the enemy to steal from us and not do anything about it? Why are we not fighting back? We need to call the cops in, (GOD) and we need to fight back. You don't just call the cops and say I've been robbed help me, you work with them. You give an active detailed account of what was stolen, when, how it could have been, you search with them. You take back control and take back what was rightfully yours.
Wake up church! You are not victims! You are choosing to be one! GOD died for you, He won the battle, He made everything possible for you to come to Him yet you sit there and cry. "I can't get close to GOD" when you aren't even trying, you hold out your platter without moving. You pray for what you want and then hang up the phone. You never sit to listen to His point of view. You listen to music and things that glorify yourself that make you feel good but you refuse to sit down and listen to the harsh correction. You want what you want and no matter what it is as long as you can justify it even when GOD hasn't you believe that makes it acceptable, and you get angry when He doesn't agree with you. You want love without justice. You want blessings without hardship. Jesus never promised you that. John 16:33 You refuse to see GOD yet you want to know Him. If you want to know Him you have to accept He is the same GOD of the O.T and N.T you say you believe Jesus and only Him, but you lie. If you really believed Jesus then when He said "If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7) You would believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) GOD is a GOD of justice as well as love. How can you get close to GOD when you refuse to accept who He is. When you refuse to even learn about Him, try to understand Him for yourself by letting Him tell you. You have the tools to do so all around you, you have a love note from heaven all about Him, called the bible yet your refuse to read it. Instead, you listen to everyone else tell you who He is, what He's done without context. You stopped thinking for yourselves. You stopped fighting to find your own truth. You let the enemy steal everything from you including your own thinking and relationship with GOD when you stop trying.
I am so harsh right now because I am so angry at this thief. I am angry at how I played the victim and in doing so let him steal more. I am angry and I refuse to sit by and not fight back. We are a battleship church, not a cruise ship, so when are we going to stop waiting for everything to be handed to us and start taking it. When the Israelites were faced with enemies GOD never just destroyed them for them, the people fought with GOD and in that fighting, they won.