Exodus today?
Are God's people in captivity? Are they in bondage? Does the church of today have an easy yoke and a light burden? Many will say that they are glad that they are not as badly off as many other people. In other words, making a comparison between their quality of life and the lives of others. But, are the lives of those people in line with the inheritance of God. God has so many blessings for His people. If God's people were truly blessed in the ways that He desires, then many would want to become one. Therefore how much do the people of God of today stand out from the crowd? How different are they to the people of the world? For example, what power do they have over illness? Do they rely on medical practitioners or on God?
JAMES 5 : 14 - 16 NKJV
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Do you call for the elders of the church when you are sick? Do you seek God when you are ill? Or do you just go to the doctor like the rest of the world? I understand that many do not have the faith for this, but that is the problem. We live in a faithless generation. In fact I believe that many of the elders of today would not have the faith either. This is just one simple example of what the church of today is missing out on. Not only are the church missing out, so are those who do not know God yet. Imagine if physical healing were alive in the church of today, how much would unbelievers be attracted to it? Why then is the church the way it is, in general?
2 TIMOTHY 3 : 1 - 5 NKJV
3 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
The Apostle Paul prophesied to Timothy of the church of the last days and this is it. Now on the surface the church of today can appear to be good, but in general it is correctly described above in 2 Timothy 3 : 1-5. Paul is describing a worldly church without the power of God, and in general that is exactly how it is. Jesus Christ came ministering in power to impact the world with His Gospel and then He commissioned His church to do the same? Where has the power gone? The church had it, what has happened? In the above verses from 2 Timothy 3 we can see that it is a sinful church who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
MATTHEW 15 : 8 - 9 NKJV
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
Many people today sing praises to God and make promises to Him, but their hearts are far from Him. The world today is all about self. What can I get for myself? How can I indulge myself? What pleasure can I have today?
MATTHEW 6 : 25 - 34 NKJV
From verse 33 we can see that if we put God first then He will take care of our every need. That is an easy yoke. But you can not put God first if you are putting yourself or anything else before Him. To those people God is just an added thing in their lives, rather than who their lives is all about. In order to seek first the kingdom of God, one must deny self and obey God. That means total devotion to God in all things, giving the whole of your life to God. The good thing is that your life could not be in better hands. I believe that now is the time for the exodus from the bondage of self into the place of total surrender to God. The only way out of the old and into the new is by the deliverance of God. If it is a struggle for you to obey anyone but yourself then you can ask God to empower you to obey Him, and He will.
JAMES 5 : 14 - 16 NKJV
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Do you call for the elders of the church when you are sick? Do you seek God when you are ill? Or do you just go to the doctor like the rest of the world? I understand that many do not have the faith for this, but that is the problem. We live in a faithless generation. In fact I believe that many of the elders of today would not have the faith either. This is just one simple example of what the church of today is missing out on. Not only are the church missing out, so are those who do not know God yet. Imagine if physical healing were alive in the church of today, how much would unbelievers be attracted to it? Why then is the church the way it is, in general?
2 TIMOTHY 3 : 1 - 5 NKJV
3 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
The Apostle Paul prophesied to Timothy of the church of the last days and this is it. Now on the surface the church of today can appear to be good, but in general it is correctly described above in 2 Timothy 3 : 1-5. Paul is describing a worldly church without the power of God, and in general that is exactly how it is. Jesus Christ came ministering in power to impact the world with His Gospel and then He commissioned His church to do the same? Where has the power gone? The church had it, what has happened? In the above verses from 2 Timothy 3 we can see that it is a sinful church who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
MATTHEW 15 : 8 - 9 NKJV
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
Many people today sing praises to God and make promises to Him, but their hearts are far from Him. The world today is all about self. What can I get for myself? How can I indulge myself? What pleasure can I have today?
MATTHEW 6 : 25 - 34 NKJV
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
From verse 33 we can see that if we put God first then He will take care of our every need. That is an easy yoke. But you can not put God first if you are putting yourself or anything else before Him. To those people God is just an added thing in their lives, rather than who their lives is all about. In order to seek first the kingdom of God, one must deny self and obey God. That means total devotion to God in all things, giving the whole of your life to God. The good thing is that your life could not be in better hands. I believe that now is the time for the exodus from the bondage of self into the place of total surrender to God. The only way out of the old and into the new is by the deliverance of God. If it is a struggle for you to obey anyone but yourself then you can ask God to empower you to obey Him, and He will.
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