A new horizon

A revelation was given to me this morning. satan's greatest stronghold in the west today is the church itself. God help us. Think about the sense this makes. The world is currently desperate for Christ. They want Him. They desire Him. They are so lost and the world is at such a difficult time right now. In such adversity the lost thirst, hunger, and cry out for God. The field is ripe for harvest. The world, in interviews, even says that if we were to follow the very things that we claim to believe, then they would be able to accept the things that we profess. It is our hypocrisy that keeps them from belief. Is satan himself able to oppose us? No. Christ defeated him on the cross. There is no opposition from satan's forces that he can provide which can withstand the mature and battle-ready Christian. Christ has given us all authority over them. So, who would be the most potent enemy satan could raise against us and against God? Ourselves.

My pastor told me something yesterday that I believe with all of my heart and I will hold before me in all things to guide me. He has seen healings, wonders, signs from many places and the people performing these things have said many things and what God spoke to his heart was that if they were not humble then he shouldn't listen to anything they said. Humility is the mark of someone truly following God. The Lord can give gifts to His children through His Spirit and they can subsequently be led astray... seeking to glorify themselves or even inadvertently serving the enemy. God will not revoke the gifts He has freely given, so the mark of those that truly serve Him is humility.

A testament to the fact that the Church is its greatest opposition is readily apparent in a truth I heard in a sermon last Sunday. First, I should point out a fact I made apparent in an earlier post. As Christians, when we received Christ, we went from sinners to saints. The process of transformation is not one of sinner to less of a sinner to even less of a sinner to still less of a sinner until we die and then we become saints. We were sinners, now we are saints. We aren't reborn when we die, we are reborn the moment we accept Christ as our savior. Therefore, our transformation in the words of Paul is from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. More on the fact that we are no longer in bondage to sin and are able to live completely free from it from this day until we are joined with the Lord can be found in an earlier blog or I can be contacted personally for more guidance in this matter. Back to the point... in the NBA or the NFL, when there are stories of men that were born in the ghetto and moved from a life of adversity and struggle and hardship and rose to make something of themselves and be an amazing athlete, they are glorified and stories are written up about it and people love to read these stories and to hear about these people. Success stories of people in the world where these people are glorified draw attention to these people. Jesus could tell people the hard truth and the people around Him hearing Him would accept it because they were drawn to Him by His Glory. He didn't have to water it down and tell people that they didn't have to listen to the parts of His message that they didn't want to follow. In the church, today, when one of us is lifted up and we become glorified, watchdogs within the church observe every single thing that the person does - watching and waiting for them to make a mistake so that they can then crucify them and pull them down to their level. The church lives in a church culture that is antiglory. The world has people to look up to... leaders... and the church tears apart and tears down its leaders. People are drawn to glory. If we want to make a difference we have to allow people to be glorified. We are supposed to be a people that believe in the power of redemption and forgiveness, so when one of our leaders does stumble, we must be willing to forgive. Christ said that the world would know us because of one thing... only one thing would mark to the world that we are His people.... that we LOVE each other.

I believe my church is actually part of the beginning of this move of God. I believe my church is taking the right approach because we are apologizing to the world for being UNchristian. I am excited by the steps our pastor is leading our church into and I believe the Lord is with us in this. I urge everyone to take heart and use this opportunity to make right your walk with God and to really live the words of the Bible and show to everyone that you live and walk in the very things you profess with your mouth to believe. If you don't know all of what it is that you claim to believe... if the Bible is something you don't know inside and out, then I encourage you to make the first day of your journey into that new frontier. Take a Bible and read it today, and tomorrow, but take it one day at a time. Focus on today and try to read just five chapters and think about them and reflect on them. Then do it again tomorrow. If 5 is too much, do 1. If one chapter is too much, read one verse. Read whatever portion you can handle. The Bible is an addictive substance, the more you feed on it the greater your hunger for it will become. It is one of the few 100% healthy addictive substances. ;) I would also strongly advise reading one of the modern translations... the old King James version was far slower reading for me than the Holman. I read in a week the same material in the Holman that it took me a month to read in my old King James version.

Anyone that is seeking someone to partner with them in learning and reading and prayer can feel free to seek me out. My email is jbaker4@hotmail.com.

God loves all and blesses those that diligently seek Him.

-Jeremy

I believe that God is about to move powerfully through the church here in the west and when He does He will separate the wheat from the chaff and the wheat will be glorified. Gird yourselves for battle because the greatest stronghold is about to be dismantled and it will be painful. I weep for those that will be lost in the battle. Pray that God holds onto all of His chosen ones.