“I have not been coming to church lately because there has not been anything for me from the pulpit,” she said standing before me. “Sometimes it is easier with the family to just stay home, especially since church is just not doing it for me now, it is easier to just watch it online.” ” I am not hearing from God when I come to church.” I hear what she is saying, her reason seems valid; even I have walked out of church before and wondered at not getting anything from God today.
My Church is Dead!
But I know this is not what God wants from us.
Heb 10:24-25 “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching”.
He wants us IN His House on a regular basis irrespective of whether we received something the last time we went, or not. He wants us to take our place in the body of Christ that is called the church, a family of believers where we are all brothers and sisters and God is our Father. But besides taking our place in the family, there is another reason He does not want us to stop meeting with believers in church:
When there is a rain storm, the rain falls over a large area of land. It falls on ground that is desperate for water, but there is also ground that is moist or still saturated from the last rainfall. For the ground that is saturated with water, the rain may seem irrelevant, and run off, but for the ground that is desperate for water, that rain is a life-saver. It is absorbed and brings forth fresh life.
God knows which ground needs the rain the most, but He is loving and generously waters on all areas, irrespective. In the same way, God pours His word down on all the believers in church, both the desperate soul and the satisfied soul, generously watering both souls and meeting the need of the one who is in need.
God Makes it Rain
Just maybe, that desperate soul is sitting right next to you. Or perhaps, the desperate soul is in your work place, or in the circle of people you know. The rain has generously poured on you, but your thirst is slated. But if you are faithful in passing on the rain that has been entrusted to you on a Sunday, is the very rain that another soul is desperate for in your circle of people you know.
Perhaps that desperate soul is in your own family without you even knowing it. Perhaps it has not rained on that soul for such a long time because it is “easier to stay home.” Perhaps that soul is now like a rock, hard and stubborn, unwilling to receive the water generously poured out on it. But even rocks erode and crumble under regular rainfall, therefore making sure that ‘the rock’ is regularly where the rain is falling, is one way of ensuring that the life-giving water is received.
God entrusts life-giving water to His ministers of the Word, who spend hours preparing for all the souls in church, not just yours in particular. On their shoulders falls a heavy responsibility. God is faithful and waters both the thirsty and the satisfied. There is no excuse not to be sitting, waiting, ready to receive, expectant because you don’t always know when your soul is thirsty!
Every Sunday, the rain falls. Where are you going to be?
Ezekiel 36:25-28
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”
Father, help me not to give up meeting with other believers irrespective of what that looks like. Help me to be disciplined in positioning myself to receive the Word from You, to receive refreshment and resources for my soul. Please help those who minister to faithfully prepare the Word of God so that all may be strengthened and uplifted and that each of us may be built up in faith, growing and maturing until we all reach the level of the fullness of Christ.
Are You Delaying the New Season of Your Life
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