This blog is straight off the mental and from the heart. I am not going to take the time to make sure the layout and grammar of this blog is proper. I say that for this reason: The flow of this piece may be all over the place. Lol. Let's Go -->
One of the things that God is developing in me right now is the link between conviction and speech. He has been revealing to me that there are times that I speak something, but my heart is far from what I am speaking. As a result, I am less likely to act on what I speak. It is easy to take on the vernacular of a Christian, but it is more challenging when you have to take on the labor of a Christian. I believe this happens because we have allowed the principle :: Speak those things that be not as though they were.. to dumb down the importance of labor. There are other reasons for lack of labor, but I want to focus on this one.
Sometimes, we as Christians can get caught up in "The Decree" - the commands and proclamation of words. We expect "The Decree" that we put in the atmosphere to shape our lifestyles solely. In no way am I saying that a decree is wrong. For the word of God says, "If you decree a thing it shall be established". However, when a decree is made it should be made in faith; faith without works is dead. What I am trying to say is: Sometimes, the decree is not an end in shaping our situations and/or our lifestyles. We can begin to speak things without putting forth the labor that is needed to bring forth the decreed thing. In other words, we can get caught up in decreeing what we want for our lives, situations, and/or our ministries without being conscious of the actions we may need to implement.
Here is an example of what I saying:
Um, let's say that you make a decree about losing weight. :: Lord, I decree that I will lose weight and be in good health.
Now... let's say that your situation is something like this: You are 70 lbs over your idea weight. The decree has been placed in the atmosphere and you have faith that it will be established on earth... that it will manifest itself to you.
Let's say that this is your routine: You do not work out. You do not change what you eat. Your diet consists of fast foods, crazy carbs, fatty foods. You eat until you can barely breathe. You constantly buy cookies, cakes, and candy. You drink sodas and sugary drinks more than you consume water. You do not fast when God calls you to, nor have you inquired if you need to. You have not prayed about what foods you need to drop out of your daily diet. BUT... you have this faith that the decree you made will come forth despite your actions. You are expecting your words to lose weight for you. You do not implement what is needed to aid you in weight loss. You do not take advantage of the knowledge that is vastly available to help you lose weight and apply it to your situation.
My Point: Faith without works is dead. Sometimes we can speak things, but we do not discipline ourselves to line up to what we are speaking. Sometimes, the decree or the words we are commanding are not the end to a thing. There are times when we will have to bring forth some form of action.
One thing that I desire is to BE who I say I am... I want my life to line up to what I speak. We call it integirity. This is an area in my life that I am really asking God to mature and refine. I need my convictions to respond to my words. The last thing I want is for an individual to question the integrity of who I am and whom I represent in Faith. Even more... I do not want to be denied by God in ministry because I do not possess the needed character and capacity to carry out His purpose. This brings me to the main point of my blog. I know, it took me a minute to get here... but here we go.
How can we expect God to enlarge our territory when we have a low capacity?
I will speak in general. Not all churches or individuals will fit this criteria. I am just speaking of what I have seen in churches and in individuals (self included).
Often, I hear:
1. I want to impact our community... but there is no appetite to labor for it. I want to take the community... but we do not hit the streets to empower our neighborhoods. I want to be the church our community runs to... yet, we do not know the names of people outside of our 4 walls. We do not know where the homeless sleeps in our community nor do we know the hunger percentile we face. Yet... we want God to give us a people that we have not expanded our capacity for. How can we expect God to give us a community when we do not have the power to do what it takes to accommodate it. God is not going to give us something that we do not have the capacity to contain.
2. We believe in One God, One Faith. We want to dismantle denominational thinking, church division and prejudices... but, we refuse to participate with other congregations we do not like or with churches that do not worship like us. I want to build unity in the Body of Christ... yet we have Pastors forbidding their members to fellowship or partake in other churches' events... We pray and decree that there will be unity, but our hearts are far from it. We have the ideal words and the perfect decrees, ... but our convictions are far from our words. How can we expect God to give us influential power and empowerment power when we do not have the capacity to receive diversity? How can we unite with others and other churches when we feel like we or our church has the "exclusive" on Christianity? That alone eradicates the capacity to receive others that worship a little different than we do.
3. I want to be a leader of many disciples, yet.. we do not know the word of God... in fact, some of us have not read His word from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21. I want to be a platform speaker, I want a mega ministry... but we do not take the time to listen to other people problems or fervently intercede for people. How can we be major in ministry without this word being true?: For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. What are we doing to expand our capacity for a mantle like this?
I can go on, but I will stop here.
I just wanted to blog about what I was feeling today. Part of this message was inspired by my pastor, Sheryl Brady. I am not name dropping; I am giving credit where it is due. Currently, I am at a church that has caused me to challenge my stance as a woman of God and my stance in the Kingdom of God. We do participate in our community and I constantly see how we are building the Kingdom. I see diversity and unity. I see the convictions of what is preached being implemented in daily life. I am grateful for that because I know what it is like to experience life as a Christian where my decrees did not provoke my convictions. I have been in congregations that have put a lot of faith in words, but because of no action... things remained dead.
If we want God to enlarge us, we must be willing to expand our capacity. We need to labor more, hunger more, and pursue more. Also, some of us need to dismantle our philosophies and the "church legacy (I built this)" mentality to enlarge our territory in the Kingdom of God. We cannot advance God's Kingdom with our own rudiments and agendas. If you want your community, labor for it. If you want unity... pursue it. You want to be a great leader... you have to KNOW God and His Heart. We must do better. I know that I must do better.
It is one thing to have faith, but it is another thing when you put works behind it. It becomes alive. Be careful not to substitute works with decrees and declares. We can talk all day in the atmosphere, but if we do not have the conviction to labor for change, growth, or discipline... we limit our capacity for greatness and success.
The plan of salvation is available (always) if you want to be saved; it is at the top of this page. If you want Jesus to be THE Lord of your life, pray it with sincerity and allow God to change your life and build your morals in Truth. Prayer request are always welcome! We are here to set the captive free through His grace. God Bless You All and please respond. Fellowship is awesome, not debating. LOL.
