Solitary Confinement

I have many Christian friends who come from different backgrounds and different denominations. Over the past month I keep running into people who love Jesus but attend a different type of Christian Church than I do. When the topic of Church comes up I find that I enjoy the conversation because its usually centered on what God is doing in someone's life or about how to get the Church moving. The Christians that I seem to gravitate toward the most are the ones that care more about the Great Commission than if their denomination is successful. That probably bothers some people, but it is all about Jesus first and everything else second.

Lately I have been questioning our focus at the Church that I Pastor and the others that are out there. We seem to be building our own personal kingdoms while people around us are far from Christ and are experiencing inner turmoil. I don't want to live like this anymore! I don't want to minister like this anymore! I want radical change! I want revolution and reformission like I never have before! But that change I desire will not just happen overnight because I have a desire for it. I have to give that desire over to God through prayer and learn to "Be Still" before Him and wait for Him to move. That is the hardest part. But I believe with every ounce of my being that God is waiting for all of us to wait. I believe that God is telling us to slow down, get on our knees, and wait for His movement in our Churches. But are we willing to pray, listen, and wait?

My answer is YES! I am at a point in my walk with the Lord where I am tired of not seeing lives impacted to such a degree that the overflow is a genuine and lasting excitement for the Christian life. It starts by pouring out all that I am before the Lord and letting Him constantly conform me to His WILL! While that is easy to type and talk about it becomes much harder to live out. What will make it easy for anyone who desires the same is to become so frustrated with the current state of the Church that you are willing to pray and wait until you experience a fresh move of God. My own tradition loves to quote the book of Acts and talk about salvation, but why don't we talk about how mighty God moved through the early Church that trusted Him? The early Church spent a lot of time trusting, praying, and waiting for God and He blessed them in spiritual ways they never expected. This is the same God I serve. This is the same God whom I will trust for a fresh move. I am tired of living in solitary confinement. It is a dark and lonely place to be. It is time to break out and I am willing to wait for God to open up the door.