INFORMATION PAGES

Sunday, September 18, 2011

IF . . . . (the Design of Church- Fifth and Final)

There is one teeny tiny small word, that, coupled with other words becomes exceedingly POWERFUL in and to our lives. That word is "if".
Coupled with other words, like "if we obey" followed by action - we become unstoppable in the hands of the living God!

There are those times our choices leave us with NO CHOICES - like when God told Adam he could eat of the fruit of every tree in the garden, but NOT the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day thou eatest thereof.... Adams choice would then leave NO CHOICE.

Then there are those times when IF we choose thus and so, we are faced with further choices, and each one impacts our lives and the lives of those around us.

What if...... How often have YOU thought that? Dreamed it? Imagined all that could be IF only....

"IF" is a powerful word followed by action, reaction or nonaction to be considered.

What IF Naaman, the Centurion who had a Jewish maidservant, had refused to heed her word to him, had NOT gone to Gods Prophet Elisha for healing? And what IF Naaman had remained in his stubborn attitude and refused to do the INSIGNIFICANT thing he was told to do - wash in the Jordan River 7 times - then he would not have been healed of leprosy.

Consider that Moses, when his eyes were firmly fixed on obeying GOD- it was all burning bushes and miraculous signs and extraordinary wonders and water flowing from rocks and manna falling from Heaven Itself - but when he took his eyes OFF God and looked at the need of the people Israel, trying to counsel them and meet their need himself - it was all frustration and irritation which led to disobedience leading to Moses being denied entry into the Promised Land. What IF he'd obeyed?

We have a lot of churches going today, churches who's eyes are "on the people" trying to please them and draw them and entice them into showing up Sunday after Sunday or attend the church programs or support the church causes and its doctrines and disciplines.

They, these churches, have developed program after program which appear to be designed more for making THEM feel good and get noticed, recognized and applauded by other churches than really doing any honest lasting good that truly Glorifies God!

Churches that focus on pleasing people tend to displease the very God they claim to serve!

WHAT IF......


What if instead of our trying to BIND GOD to our limited understanding, what if we allowed God to expand our understanding to receiving His limitlessness?

What if instead of adhering to our ideas of "church", we surrendered to His high calling to BE HIS CHURCH?

What if....?