The Lord told me recently that the church is malfunctioning. the Scripture that He spoke to me is Jeremiah 6:14, which states: “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace, when there is no peace” (ESV) I love the modern church. especially how we have moved from religious conformance to accepting people as they are. But if I look at the word that God gave me and my own experience it’s obvious something went wrong as it always does when humans are involved. We can be grateful that we serve a merciful, patient God who continually accepts our cries of repentance. Not only does He forgive us our sins but many times revival follows heartfelt repentance. But we must remember He is not slow but patient.
God told me the church malfunctions because: 1. It does not look after my people. 2. It does not believe that I can do the things that I say I can. 3. It breaks the things that matter to me. The word malfunction means to crash, breakdown, fault, failure, defect, flaw, collapse, impairment, glitch (google) all words we do not want to ascribe to the church. I can hear some of you saying that “His grace is sufficient for us” and that is definitively true but that does not give us the license to stop growing and maturing. We are called to be “a bride without spot or wrinkle” (Eph 5:27) His grace is for the things that we cannot change and He tells us if there are things that we can change. So let’s explore what God is saying to us through His word and how we can find a way to repair what is broken. I have already explored this word in Restoring the malfunctioning church-Pt.1 but now I want to go on to the next point.
2. It does not believe that I can do the things that I say I can.
Unbelief has infiltrated the church to such an extent that we have theologies that justify our unbelief. The response to the reality of unbelief in us should be to throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus and repent. This desperation is what the Holy Spirit is looking for in the people of God to move in miracle-working power. Matthew 13:58 and Mark 6:3-6 tells the story of Jesus going to visit his hometown for the purposes of ministry but the scripture says that “And he could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” We should be desperate to see his kingdom come but instead, some of our churches have settled for comfortable theology that denies the commission of Jesus unto his followers for “greater works”. The result is that we have so many churches that are dry and powerless to help those who are suffering, being tormented by the devil. Should we be content in all situations- yes, by all means, but this does not give us the licence for unbelief. Especially if Jesus said specifically: “And these signs will accompany them who believe: in my name they will cast out demons, they will speak in new tongues-” (ESV)
The church has based its success on how accurately it can interpret scripture instead of believing that scripture was written for our instruction. We have come to believe the lie that being correct is the same as being righteous. Righteousness can only come by faith. (Romans 4:22; Philippians 3:9)
God has given us gifts and we have buried them in the ground like the lazy servant. (Matthew 25:14-30) The fear of man has taught us to shrink back from the works of faith that Jesus has called us to. We are so afraid of what the world thinks of us so we water down the Gospel to something that we can do in our own strength instead of something that we live out, in faith. Another side to this unbelief is our impatience because we have learnt from the world that we should have everything today. We have come to believe that what we do is more important than how we do it. We are too busy to wait on God. Our schedules are too tight to allow the Holy Spirit to move. God gives us the example of Acts 2 but we have become like Martha’s who are too busy to sit at the feet of Jesus. (Luke 10:40) We are not making disciples but workers. We are making our churches hiding places of those who don’t want to grow. We have come to worship the work of our hands. We believe that if we don’t do something then nothing will happen. We have slaved away in our own strength, to build our own kingdoms and we turn around and call it the “blessings” of God.
As I said before revival costs something, sometimes it’s our time, other times our dignity but revival will definitely cost you your pride. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:60) Revival is not a worship night as much as I love those. Revival is not another event that we host.
Let us cry out to God to bless us with His presence in a mighty way to see His kingdom come. God bless you and shine His face upon you! Until next time, I greet you in the name of Jesus.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) ESV
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord-” (Acts 3:19-20) ESV