Whacked Up and Jacked Up

Last night, a pastor on a professional social media site reached out to me to read about his book and give my opinion.  The book’s focus was on the American church not following Jesus’ command to go and make disciples, and therefore becoming a dying church.  The theme of this book triggered my thoughts of how many other commands we as followers of Christ do not obey, which in turn leaves us whacked up and jacked up.  Pardon me if you do not understand my slang, but for purposes of this post whacked up as defined by https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com is “to damage someone or something,” and https://www.urbandictionary.com  defines jacked up as “in a state of disarray.”

Let me unpack this a bit.  Not only are we not going as a church into ALL the world because it is not convenient or comfortable for us, but we dismiss many of God’s commands making our churches dens of demons instead of holy houses of worship to our Lord and Savior.  Ouch!!! You may think I am being a bit harsh.  Well then, let’s go straight to the Word. 

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”  Matthew 21:12-13

The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy and we have given him an open door to do so in our churches because of our lack of obedience to God’s Word.  How many church leaders do you see exchanging prayer cloths, oils and water for desperate people’s money?  There are far too many.  It is all about self and putting “me” first, which is against God’s Word, which states that we should be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor. (Romans 12:10). 

Our focus on self even goes into our relationships.  Many marriages in churches fail because they are demonically inclined.   We run ahead of God and marry a man or woman who He didn’t ordain for us and then we expect Him to bless the marriage.   We will even go as far as saying that God was the one who put the two together.  If we believe that God has put the marriage together, then we better stay in His will and work on keeping it together.  The truth is we make God look schizophrenic through our actions.  We say He told us to get married to a certain person and a couple years later, He is the same God who wants us out of the marriage.  This is all our flesh and not God.   I wish we would stop using His name in vain.  God is not a man that He should lie and we are making Him out to be a liar, when the devil is the father of lies.  So, who then is really our father when we live in our fallacies? We make a mess of marriage, which is supposed to depict Christ and His church, the husband being the head and the wife being the body. God’s purpose for marriage is kingdom building, not just self-fulfilled pleasure.  But, we want to do things our way, leaving behind God’s holy commands about marriage.

Many of our churches are built by pleasing man and not God, discarding Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone in its spiritual edifice.  We are then on shaky ground, not standing on the solid Rock.   We follow worldly strategies and expect supernatural results.  Now, that is truly whacked up and jacked up as we cause damage to ourselves and others leaving the body of Christ in disarray.  God is grieved.  Yet, we want His mighty move in our willful rebellion against Him. We may not think of ourselves as rebels, but we are when we carry out our own plans and do not align with His Spirit. 

“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin.  Isaiah 30:1

We keep on adding sin to sin, taking Bible verses out of context to underpin our lack of surrender to God’s will.  Yet, God is merciful and compassionate waiting on us to turn from our wicked ways and to run to Him. 

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him. Isaiah 30:18

God is waiting for His church to long for Him, and to seek His kingdom first and His righteous.  He will not withhold any good thing from us, but we must trust Him to lead us.  Where He takes us may not make sense to us, but there is purpose, so we should obediently follow Him. 

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7

When we are in God’s will, then we will live in the supernatural.  Miracles will abound as we draw closer to Him, thinking His thoughts and walking His ways.  So, as a new year and new decade begins let us resolve to be in God’s will – going where He tells us to go and doing what He tells us to do.   And as we obey His command, we will not only show our love to Him, but we will also be His love to others.

The Power of Love

"...the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

I met Kalia over a year and a half ago, and I truly believe it is the love of her parents and her extended family that not only makes her survive, but thrive under the circumstances she has had to endure since birth.

Kalia in the hospital

Kalia's first surgery was the very day she was born as she had no anus. The skin on her stomach was cut and her intestines were put on the outside through the incision so that she would be able to pass her feces. However, her battle had only just begun.  At just three days old she had her next surgery. This time it was on her esophagus, which her parents described as being attached to her lungs. When she was swallowing, air and food were going down the same passage.

These conditions would be taxing on an adult, nevertheless, Kalia's afflictions do not end there.  Compounding her situation are issues with her heart and kidney, along with an arm with no radius bone. She also has asthma, and is often admitted to the hospital for wheezing and shortness of breath.  With all these ailments, undoubtedly, she is susceptible to infections.

Kalia and her cousins

It is hard for her young parents to see their little daughter suffering, but they have learned to cope with the many emergency room visits and long hospital stays.  Thankfully, Kalia lives with a loving extended family who are there to help her and her parents lighten their burden. Unfortunately, she and her family live in an inner-city community in Jamaica and they cannot afford all her medical expenses.  

Expecting miracles, Kalia's grandmother often brings her to visiting missionaries and church groups for them to pray for her.  I too believe that amazing things can happen through prayer, but I also understand that we are to be Jesus' hands and feet here on Earth.  We have been positioned to help Kalia in whatever way we can. Learn more about how you can play your part.

Visiting missionaries pray for Kalia as she is being held by her grandmother

Kalia's story has made it to one of the nation's leading newspapers and now many persons are aware of all the challenges she has faced at such a young age and have fallen in love with her.  However, love is an action word, so now we must act and help Kalia have the best life she possibly can.  Love Now...Act Now!!!

The Community of Believers

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 2 Corinthians 8:2-5

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 8 appealing for them to give out of their plenty to help supply the need of other believers.  This was in stark contrast to the Macedonians who he described earlier in the chapter as having "rich generosity" in "their extreme poverty."

Wow!!! The Macedonians were even pleading for the "privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people."  Now, this is amazing.  They were going through great difficulties, but did not selfishly give in to self-pity, but rather selflessly gave in a self sacrificial manner.  They didn't complain about giving, but they joyfully shared even more than they could.

This makes me really think if the Church, as a community of believers, is really acting like a community should.  Two definitions of community stand out to me in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.  The first is a "unified body of individuals,"  and the second, "joint ownership or participation."  I believe these two should be what Church looks like, but it is not.

Christ prayed in John 17 that the believers would be one as He and the Father are one. A unified body is dear to His heart. Yet, we have chosen to argue over petty differences, instead of unite in our belief in Christ.

The Macedonians did not only give themselves to firstly the Lord, but they also offered up themselves to Paul and his fellow laborers in Christ. What a fantastic model for the Church to live by! Instead, we are so busy, being busy with our own stuff and hoarding our "riches"  that we don't commit our time, talent and treasures to God and His people.  We grumble about not having enough to tithe, although Christ said to give up everything and follow Him.  We hold on to our possessions, while trying to acquire more of the "unnecessities" to feel happier, even though our brother or sister in Christ knowingly to us suffers dire need.  Ignoring their state, we focus on ourselves and our family, but making sure to go to church religiously and doing ministry vacantly, hoping to buy God's grace.  We have failed to realize The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich. (v. 9)

Jesus was stripped of everything when He went to the cross for us.  Yet, to give someone a little assistance is often deemed as a great inconvenience to us. I am overjoyed that Christ did not see the cross as an inconvenience.

I don't want to miss the second definition, which is "joint ownership or participation." Yikes!!! I know this will make most people squeamish as we think that we have worked hard to acquire all we have and we don't want to give it to a lazy bum.  Wait a minute though, the Bible unequivocally advocates hard work and wisdom.  We don't support slackness, as that is madness.  However, whenever possible, we should try to help those who are working hard, but still aren't making ends meet.  Paul emphasized as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” (v. 15) IT IS BIBLICAL.

We get so caught up with "our" stuff and keeping up appearances that we become afraid to give,as we consider it loss instead of gain. Gripped by fear, we seem to forget that we are in an upside down kingdom in which giving is receiving.

It is time to do what is right in the eyes of God and the eyes of man by proving our love through the gift of giving, not to buy God's love or man's favor however, but to show God's grace working in us.

Where Has All The Love Gone

I opened for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. Song of Songs 5:6 

Why did the Lover leave? The Beloved was sleeping and was too lazy to get up at the knock of her Lover. All the Beloved did was to think about herself. She didn't want to put her robe back on again and she didn't want to soil her washed feet. 

The Beloved Church is asleep as her Lover Jesus knocks at the door of her heart. The Church is too comfortable to get up and move towards Jesus' call. She doesn't want to rise up from her soporific state. The Church refuses to put on the robe of righteousness, yet proudly wraps herself in self-righteousness. Feeling clean, she doesn't want to mix with the "unclean" and walk a path that may get her feet dirty. However, the path Jesus walked was lined with sinners who needed his healing touch. The Church too is called to walk the path of her Lover. 

Any disciple who follows Jesus will get dirty feet. But, being in Jesus means the disciple is clean, no matter what mess those feet trod through. 

It is time for the Church to stop worrying about dirty feet as she arises from her lethargy. She must open the door to her first Love without hesitating or else it may be too late. It is time for the Beloved to love as the Lover and forget about herself to seek the lost and hurting. 

Unfortunately, when people look at the Church they are asking, "Where has all the love gone?" 

The time has come for the Church to wake up, get up and open up the door for her Lover. She has locked out not only the Lover, but also those who need to be loved. 

“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Ephesians 5:14