Expectant Prayers ®

If we honestly stop and evaluate our spiritual walk, can we say that we are closer to God now than ever before in our lives?   I see a trend arising among the church... people who have head knowledge of God but who do not know Him intimately; people who go through the routines of religiosity, but do not have a commitment to Christ.

What is the cause and what is the remedy?  

The cause can be anywhere from simply not doing the very basic things Christ requires of us like pray or reading the Word to getting caught up in "idols" of the day (materialism, career, self, etc.)  For others, it's the hodge podge of theologies, doctrines, and religious ideas all wrapped into one warped version of what it means to be a "Christian".   Again, this is of our own making.
We're like the frog that got boiled...slowly getting boiled in the pot; slowly, subtly getting cooked.  May God help us to feel the heat of the boiling pot and to get out!  The bigger issue is that flesh has crept into the church and we look and act so much like the world that we're almost indistinguishable.  Where is the discernment among God's people?

Is anyone out there concerned at all?  It seems to me there are more people playing the role than seriously living for Christ.  Are you really being challenged when you go to church...examining your life and finding accountability?  Do you leave a service praising God and thanking Him for bringing light to the hidden parts of your spirit, for changing you and bringing you into a deeper relationship with Him?  Or is your attendance out of duty or a sense of socialization?   Do you only want to hear "feel good" messages about prosperity, abundance, the blessings of God, etc. ?

If your relationship with Christ hasn't cost you anything or caused you any pain... I wonder how truly sincere it really is!  We are so pampered here in the states that we are lulled to sleep in our gluttony.  We have everything we need... why do we need God?   Do we even remembered the first century church and what they had to endure?  Not really.  We are so far removed that I wonder how much the modern church even resembles the early church.  How in the world would we stand up to persecution?

This is a call to all of you out there who are sick and tired of being in a lukewarm church and in a lukewarm relationship with Christ.  It's time to wake up.  If you are a person is old enough that you can't really remember what you believe or why... it's time to be revived.    If you aren't being conformed continually into the image of Christ... it's time to be revived.    Church...it's time to be revived.
I am personally sick and tired of books that claim to have the answer, big church TV personalities that bid us to follow their ministries, and all the other junk that people substitute for the real thing... JESUS.  How did we allow ourselves to get to this place?   I'm beginning to wonder what the true church really looks like...is there any more than a remnant left????

We need to get back to basics.  Prayer, fasting, reading the Word.  It's time to wake up and get up out of our beds of complacency and move toward a new day in Christ.  It's going to take commitment, it's going to take daily dying to the flesh. It's going to take living by the Spirit; following God and NOT man.   We're going to have to turn from our wicked ways...repent...and have a true change of mind, heart, and direction.  

It's time to be revived... and revival starts within us...personally.  Aren't you ready to see a great awakening?