I awoke this morning feeling very discouraged. This week began with a fight to withstand the demons of apathy, indifference, and hopelessness that’s plaguing the faith community I belong to. The atmosphere among the staff and leaders is so depressing that I fear for my own spiritual health.
It’s obvious, at least to me, what the problem is. My church has left its first love. There is no intimacy between individual members and Christ, which means there is no spiritual intimacy among members toward one another. We go through the motion of Sunday programming without heart or passion. We go home and busy ourselves with jobs or unemployment rituals, pay TV, entertainment vices, food, criticizing and blaming the government for the mess our country is in; and at the end of the day give 7minutes (if that much) of unconscious prayer to a distant Heavenly Father in the name of His distant Son, Jesus, and go to bed, and repeat the same scenario the next day and thereafter.
I can hear Jesus calling out to His people to rekindle their love for Him and His Word. I hear Him knocking at the door of hearts who claim they are His.
"Here I am, open the door and I will come in and commune with you. I want to renew our relationship. Remember when you first met Me, when you first accepted Me as your Savior? You were so grateful for salvation, you devoted yourself to talking with Me in prayer daily---you loved to study My Word and apply it to your life. You willing showed love and forgiveness to others. You actually cared about My other children and did what you could to help them and show them My love. And you weren’t ashamed to share your faith in Me with family and friends. You were passionate in your worship of Me and My Father. My light shone brightly within you.
But now you’ve forgotten the old days. Your heart is no longer in your Worship of Me and My Father. You come to church with a desire to hurry up and go home. You no longer spend time getting to know Me through personal and corporate prayer. The only time I hear from you is when you’re in trouble and everyone you trusted above Me has turned their back on you. Come, open the door and let me in. I will forgive you and hold you in My arms. Come, let me in."
Most Gracious Father,
Thank you for undeserved mercy to me and your people. Please, Lord God Almighty, send a revival to your children. We need You Lord, I need You Lord-----we can do nothing without You.
Please, don’t let our light go out (Revelation 2:4-5).
In Jesus’ name,
Anna
