How Much?

"We, in the church, have altered our motive."

GOD WANTS us to look like peace. He is not, in this hour, wanting overemotionalism, lengthy protracted sermons, nor news-making concert sessions. I’m not talking about the size of things but the motive. We, in the church, have altered our motive from God’s heart to ours. We’ve taken what feels good to us, what resembles things of old, and painted Him with it. It is as if He performed miracles and then we decided to make Him King (John 6:15). He’d rather not.

Instead, He desires us to desire Him for peace, that we can walk among the world and shine light, the salt flavoring the meal. What is Law killed Israel. It was designed and displayed to rescue them while they grew into the people who would father the Messiah. The Father wanted maturity. He got, instead, a mixed bag of slaves and Egyptian masters. The people either returned to bondage or altered who He’d made them into so that they built pyramids to worship false deities that are vapors. These are the high places mentioned in the Old Testament and interestingly in the New. Ephesians 6:12 shows a progression of false idol worship, ending in “spiritual wickedness in high places.” What was a thought which could be harmless becomes a rule of men, then a power (exousia, authority) over entire groups, and last of all, full-blown worship.

Some worship their anger. They use God’s Word to hate others. This is not godly. It is not like Him at all, and these are the ones Jesus spoke of who He said cried out, “But we laid hands on the sick, we cast out devils, we preached the Word, for you.” And the Father says, “I never knew you (Matthew 7:22-23).”

Are we an amusement park or the body of Christ? Are we Jesus’ hands and feet or a fragment of an idol which could be His but isn’t? History is rife with these. Eve cried out they weren’t allowed to touch the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:3). Jesus said to Mary, who didn’t know Him at first, that she was not to touch Him (John 20:3). Here is the same thing. Many take Eve’s words and make them her lie. No, they are the Father through the Spirit saying what Jesus came to earth to do – remove sin, cleanse the hearts of men. You can’t see it because you haven’t asked. You have given Him an hour of your time. I’ve sat with Him for days, weeks, years. It was that or darkness. Great darkness.

The healing of the mind comes because we trust Him. Trust is faith, which only comes through growth, and I affirm with you, growth means letting go of it all. All of you that you value needs to be at His feet, and if you cannot, then you will stagnate. Growth comes by leaps and bounds if you do. I am so far ahead of where I was when locked into church culture and yet so far from the greater, amazing wisdom of God. Psalm 139:6 in the Remedy Translation says, “The full knowledge of you is too immense for me; you are infinite, and I cannot comprehend it.” This paints an amazing image. How high do you want to go? How much of heaven do you want to see? Because nothing is stopping you but the physical and mental lusts of our selfish, carnal nature. Do we want to play football, play a game, or do church?

“My one and only goal is to be intimately connected with Christ in heart, mind, motive, character and sympathy, to genuinely know him and be known as his friend, to experience the eradication of selfishness and the growth of the life-giving power of his love within me, to die completely to self—" (Philippians 3:10, Remedy)

Photo by Jonas Jaeken on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com