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Discussion Forum : Devotional Thoughts : Spiritual Bankruptcy!

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EvangelTam
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Joined: 2011/1/29
Posts: 149


 Spiritual Bankruptcy!

Hey Brothers and Sisters,

Just wanted to share some convictions that the Spirit was speaking to me for the past few days. Hope you are all encouraged and bless.

Life Abundant

We often have a wrong view of the Christian life: we either see it as a path marked with intense persecution and suffering or as a mundane life filled with rules and regulations that one must religiously follow in order to “please God” and be a “good Christian.”

My dear friends, this is a LIE! If you think the above is true, then you have been tricked by the devil. He has told you something that is untrue in order to keep you satisfied with a lukewarm Christian life life—ensnared by the lusts of the world and enticed away from the glorious riches that we have in Christ Jesus! Yes, it is true, Jesus was a man of many griefs and sorrows, but He was also the most joyous person that walked the earth! It was for the JOY set before Him that He endured the cross, despising its shame (Heb 12:2). Even in His greatest hour of turmoil, He was filled with joy; a joy that comes only from the Father, a joy that is stronger and mightier than all the forces of hell; and this joy is ours in Christ! This same powerful joy overflowed into the lives of Paul and Silas despite the extreme persecution they faced as they sat in a dark and gloomy prison. While all the other prisoners in their cells were drowned in hopelessness and misery, Paul and Silas were filled with the glorious Light of the Father! In fact, this very joy, resulting in thanksgiving and praise, was what God used to break open the prison doors and set the captives free! Ultimately, this joy is a testimony in the life of every believer that Jesus Christ has been resurrected from the dead! Oh! This is a joy that can never be taken away from the believer; indeed, it grows in its breadth and depth for all eternity! Even in the darkest circumstances this eternal joy flows out of God’s people!

The devil steals and kills and destroys! But Jesus came that we may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). The devil knows that if he can trick a believer into thinking that the Christian life is boring, mundane and empty he would keep them ineffective for Christ!

What is this abundant life that Jesus speaks of? It is a life that is filled with meaning where a person is more than just satisfied, they are overflowing! Before we were saved, we were without God and without hope; we gave our attention to many vanities and frivolous things despite which our lives remained empty and without purpose. We did these things because we knew nothing better; we lived in darkness and had no idea of the glory of God. But, for those who know who God is, it is impossible to go back to these things: our eyes are opened to fact that God is far more worthy of our attention!

Jesus says that for those who believe in Him, streams of living water will well up in him into eternal life . Think of how a fountain of water starts off with small gushes, but eventually grows and grows until it cannot be contained and is literally shooting up out of the ground! This is how our Christian life should be like, a life overflowing with the spiritual riches of Heaven that can never be taken away that keeps increasing for all of eternity.

Spiritual Bankruptcy

If this is true, then there is a crisis in the Church today: we are spiritually bankrupt! The church should be a place filled with the glorious riches of Christ. A place filled with love, joy, peace, hope, righteousness and power filled the very presence of God Himself. A place where spiritually hungry people can come to taste and see that the Lord is good. In the Old Testament the manifest glory of God would rest of the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and then when the temple was built the glory of God filled the temple so that the priests could not minister (1 Kings 8:10-11). When Christ died the veil covering the Holy of Holies in the temple was torn and now through Christ we become the temple of God and His presence dwells and flows out of us! However, it seems like the above is not true. We have a lot of things in church: we have nice buildings, we have nice programs, nice people, nice pastors, nice preaching and good food but we are lacking spiritual riches. Going to church is a routine—a mere chore—and services are dull and empty.

We have forgotten that the Kingdom of Heaven is not something that can be seen. Instead, it is a spiritual reality inside the life of every believer. Jesus says that “the Kingdom of heaven is within you.” (Luke 17:21) Moreover: “The Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). In this passage, believers were judging other believers because of what they were doing outwardly. Paul wanted to point out that what is most important is not what you do outwardly (following rules and regulations) but the inner reality of divine joy, peace and righteousness flowing outward. This can only come from a true change wrought by the Holy Spirit and a believer continuing to abide in Him.

On the outside, we have the appearance of growth and life, but on the inside we are rotten and dead! We do not have the inward reality that Paul writes about in the letters; we do not have this life overflowing that Christ speaks of on the gospels! We try to shake it off and think that it is okay, reason with ourselves that we have it or try to produce it of our own effort, but the truth speaks: That in the midst of all the churchy things we do, all the programs and activities: we feel empty and have a desire for something more, for something deeper! For many believers, Jesus does not truly satisfy though we say He does. As a result we try to satisfy ourselves with the World thinking that this is all there is and fail miserably in convincing the World that Jesus saves. The worldly people wonder why they should go to church when the church is going to them!

This spiritual condition is the exact same description that Jesus gives the church of Sardis:

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God” (Rev 3:1-2).

When we look at the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, is it important to understand that the Word of God is not limited to time but endures forever, even before they were written or revealed to us, they existed (just like before gravity was discovered, it existed). So, the letters to the seven churches are not just letters addressing these specific churches in Apostle John’s time, but also give us understanding to the spiritual conditions of the Church in the last days. The Church of Sardis had a name that they were alive, but were actually dead! On the outside, things look like they are going well: services occur regularly, prayer meetings are held, people are baptized…but the core of it was rotten and the lives of people are not changed! There is no love for God, but only empty action! Families are still broken, couples cold and indifferent and children are still rebellious, but, alas, everything is covered with a guise of religion. We are like spiritual zombies! On the outside they have all the characteristics of looking alive, they walk, move around and sometimes utter words, but they are dead on the inside; they have no heart! You can’t connect to them as you connect to living people. In the same way, a zombie church has not heart. They cannot connect with God’s heart, and yet this spiritual heart connection is critical for life! A person can make do without an arm or leg, but they cannot do without a heart. After all, a person with a beating heart who is unable to move is still better off than one who can move but is without a heart!

In fact, without a heart, the mind of a person, no matter how intelligent, becomes useless. A church or person may even know and speak the right things but still be dead. Many churches are like this. They know and speak correct doctrine and theology but lack the power to conform to it. They talk much, but cannot do much; in short, they have no power! People sit in church and hear the truths of God’s Word week after week, but it is powerless and has no changing effect on them. It is a dead word that falls on dead ears instead of a Living Word that brings a dead heart to life.

This preaching of truth without power falls short of the standard that God prescribes for His church! The church should give the world a picture of what the Kingdom of heaven is like. As 1 Corinthians 4:19-20 says, “The kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.” When someone speaks for the Kingdom of God as one called by and sent from God, there is power in their words! The power of Heaven is upon them; a power that reveals what is in a person’s heart and confronts them with the Truth, the very realities of God’s Word! A power that like Christ calls the dead man Lazarus out of the tomb or like Ezekiel prophecies the dry bones to life ! It stirs the hearts of lukewarm believers, encourages the hearts of faithful followers and convicts or provokes the heart of the unregenerate. When light shines in a dark place, there are only three reactions: flight, fight or life.

A powerless Church is a tragic thing! They cannot stand up against the forces of the World. They are laughed at and cannot fight back and, even worse, give in and compromise! The devil laughs at it, and it brings shame to God’s Holy Name.

So what is the solution to this spiritual problem? The answer lies simply in trusting in God and not ourselves! We trust in our programs, our logic, our preaching and even our friendliness to win someone over to Christ. We forget that we have nothing in ourselves, that we can give nothing to these people except for Christ alone. We have nothing to give because we have nothing, and we have nothing because we do not ask, and we do not ask because we do not see our need for it or turn a blind eye to it because of pride and so we continue in this poor pitiful state! Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.” Indeed I believe that a good portion of what is called the Church is under a curse because they trust in themselves over God and refuse to turn to Him! These churches will continue to fall into spiritual decay like the Israelites before the exile until they are destroyed or repent!

Many Christians today do not have spiritual eyes and are blinded by the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. This causes many fights and quarrels within the Church as people compete and fight one another to advance their own selfish interests. When they pray, they pray with selfish motives. They ask God to prosper their own plans done in His Name. When we try to do God’s work our own way and get Him to endorse it, it will never succeed! God will not give His glory to another and will not be used or manipulated by Man’s selfish interests!

“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (Jam 4:1-3).

Later on the same passage James gives us the solution to this problem:

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail” (Jam 4:7).

We must admit our spiritual bankruptcy, repent, submit and humble ourselves to ask for what we lack! Only then will we have spiritual eyes to see our spiritual need, and finally receive the joy, power and life Jesus promised.

Ask and You Will Receive

Asking with spiritual eyes is a key principal in God’s Kingdom! Jesus say ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full (John 16:24). Notice that the result is so that we may be FULL of joy in contrast to being empty! Asking is not a one time thing, but a continual thing. We must moment by moment go to God’s throne of grace in order to receive what we need to be sustained spiritually.

“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16)

Every moment of our lives is our time of need! Paul preaches that, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). The reality is that we can only live in Him. Just like we must physically live in an atmosphere filled with oxygen, so we must live spiritually in God’s grace. Just like we breathe in air every second, we must breathe God’s grace every second. Think about it, when an astronaut goes to the moon he does not go anywhere without a suit that can supply him with oxygen, heat and protection in the darkness and desolation of the moon. He is from a different world and cannot survive in this one without a suit. In the same way, we are from the Heavenly Kingdom and cannot survive in a dark, fallen world without abiding in Christ and hiding ourselves in the Rock of our spiritual life support (salvation)! He was the only one who could take on the forces of darkness head on without protection, and so He sent us Himself, in the Holy Spirit, for us to abide in!

God wants a people who are dependent on Him. When He led the Israelites through the desert, He provided just enough food for them daily so that they would learn that “Man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deut 8:3). If the Israelites collected too much manna it would go bad and become full of worms. This is the same for God’s people today; He gives us enough grace to live victoriously in Him day to day. That is why Jesus teaches His disciples to pray “gives us this day our daily bread.” This is not just true of physical bread, but so much truer for our spiritual bread which is Christ Himself. He is the Bread of Life.

Dependency was one of the main characteristics of Christ in that He was completely reliant on God the Father to provide and sustain Him both physically and spiritually! He came down as a helpless baby and left Himself in the protection and care of the Father in Heaven. He did nothing apart from the Father and lived second by second in that reality. We are to follow in His example!

The reason why we are lacking spiritual blessings is because we are too full of the World! We are too full of ourselves to receive from God. This is why the first beatitude is blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven! When we are poor in spirit and dependent on Him, then we can receive the riches of the Kingdom! However, we are so deceived with the blessings of material wealth that we do not see our need for spiritual wealth. Many of God’s people today are filled with too much self.

Self-sufficiency—
Self-righteousness—
Self-accomplishment—
But no self-denial.

People ask once from God and then go away thinking they are okay, but this is just not true. Just like you cannot survive with drinking one cup of water or breathing one breath of air your whole life, so going to God once will not be enough to sustain you. In the same way, many believers think that they are alright because they have repented once and received grace; they think that they are set for the rest of their lives! This is also not true. Paul specifically prayed prayers for each of the Churches to be given more from God.

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…” (Col 1:9-10)

“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:17-18).

If this was true for the early Church that stood in the face of brutal persecution and turned the entire ancient world upside down for Christ how much more now? Could it be that the reason why large parts of the Church today is not having as much of an impact on their generation as in generations past is because we simply have not asked God and our comfortable with our spiritual deficiencies? I believe one of the key reasons why the early church was so mightily used of God is because they were poor in spirit! They were a people dependent on Almighty God! When Peter and John were beaten and threatened for the gospel they got on their knees and prayed for power, prayed for boldness so much so that the place they prayed was SHAKING! When was the last time your church had a prayer meeting that shook the earth, opened the floodgates of heaven and sent an alarm through hell?

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31)

There are many things in which a believer individual and the Church corporately must ask God for in order to receive! If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13)

The church is supposed to be a storehouse of spiritual riches where a world that is quickly decaying spiritually can go to be fed. Just as how God sent seven years of abundance and raised up Joseph in Egypt to supply food for all people during the following seven years of famine, so God prepared Christ and gave Him to His people, graciously bestowing on us the riches of Christ, that we may have an overflowing supply of grace and power for a hopeless world that is heading on a maddening course into eternal fire.

This is the verdict: the Church must go and approach the throne of God’s grace again both for themselves and for the dying world around them!

 2012/1/10 18:58Profile
InLove
Member



Joined: 2010/11/17
Posts: 53


 Re: Spiritual Bankruptcy!

Thank you for this! God has been showing me the same thing. I see a lot of times that God will, through His Spirit, show the same thing to His children.

 2012/1/10 20:56Profile





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