Every person in this high pressure, high anxiety world we live in needs a fresh touch from heaven. A helping hand in the time of trouble, a listening ear, someone to help carry the load, someone to guide us through the storms of life.
Wait a minute I just said every person that includes Christians, aren't we supposed to have it all together? Actually Christians need to be revived in this day & age. Revive--to breathe life back into ones soul! Psalm 119:107 "I am afflicted very much; Revive me, O Lord according to Your Word.
That scripture holds the key to true revival THE WORD! Too often we are all caught up in ministry, in being fundraisers to keep our ministry or church afloat. The busyness of life in itself is a curse of monumental size, that sucks our strength & energy & leaves us in such a pathetic weakened state. When we do not start our day in the Word of God we are setting ourselves up for another day of spinning our wheels while going nowhere.
It's good to participate in a church service, to sit under the teaching of Gods Word, to be gathered together with the brethren (like minded believers.) But this is only a part of the whole package. Early on in my walk with the Lord I summed up our four absolutes for a strong Christian walk. Read the Word, pray pray pray, faithful in all things, but without the fourth obedience to Gods Word, the first three can still make you feel as if you are running on empty.
I have heard it stated that 90% of our youth today no longer believe in absolutes. This ties into the post modern society of today. A truth is an absolute & Jesus is the way, the truth & the life! The Bible=the book of instructions before leaving earth. It is to be our road-map to life while here on earth. Personally I find an incredible hunger in the youth of today for something or someone to believe in.
What has the church of today presented to them & I am not throwing stones but the facts are the facts. Pedophiles being behind the pulpit, abuse of every sort to our native peoples, denominations ordaining homosexuals, Christian denominations at odds with one another, our government & denominations condoning & recognizing same sex marriages.
Traditional Christianity hasn't got what it takes. It is like a veneer of Christian customs & culture passed down in increasingly ineffective doses. Getting farther & farther from the source of its original power. Being a Christian is not just a change in our outward appearance, no smoking, drinking, drugging, cursing or swearing, mode of dress or even doing church & carrying a Bible even quoting it (satan can do that.) God looks at the inward person of the heart. We can no longer sit silently watching the adversary destroy our nation & youth.
As representative of Gods kingdom in this world of decay & sin & debauchery our silence has deprived the world of the purifying, healing, redeeming influence of righteousness. In Proverbs 14:34 we read Righteousness exalts a nation! Every nation desperately needs to see a people who are the righteousness of God, a people of prayer who believe their God is all powerful & believe in the power of prayer.
We take physical laws seriously ex. gravity, aerodynamics & so on. We research them, conform to them, cooperate with them. What if mankind took Gods spiritual & moral order just as seriously as His physical laws? No terrorism, no hatred, no discrimination, no exploitation, no abuse of power (nothing corrupts more than power) no divorce, no battered wives, no addiction, no hopelessness & despair, no suicide, no poverty, no pornography, no pollution,no crime, no murder, no war, no sex outside of marriage, no children born out of wedlock, no adultery & this list goes on & on.
You may say that's OK but you do not know the pressure I've been under. My response is when a lump of coal is put under pressure it becomes a diamond. Proverbs 17:3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts. Maybe you've been put down all your life & are filled with guilt, shame which has you in a state of deep depression.
That's what this message is all about. You too can change your circumstances, the way you see yourself & others, BUT not under your strength. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! He strengthens us according to His Word!
I used to love wrestling when I was a kid growing up & especially the tag team matches. One of the wrestlers is being beat up & about to lose the match but he finds the strength to reach up & tag his partner & immediately everything changes. The Holy Spirit is your tag team partner. He is the one who created everything we see in this universe & HE IS IN YOUR CORNER!
You may feel like you're Christian walk has been on a slippery slope or you may not even know this Jesus I have been talking about BUT you can! 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!
I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ still has the power to do the impossible, to change our lives & make us Christ-like. It has taken time for us to get into the state we find ourselves in but if we are willing to do our part it will come to pass! Food for Thought!
Ken Gorham a servant of the Lord
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