There are many camps of opinion within the Church. The last two years have revealed the variety and number of those individual camps. These camps reflect opinions on how the local church should be run. There are camps of political, theological, and medical opinion. The personal and cultural struggles we all went through were like a wind that blew away the fog of our assumptions about the Church and how her presence is to be applied to our individual lives, our relationships, and the wider culture.
These struggles have revealed a need for a simpler faith based only on a few essentials. The most important essential is to know Jesus Christ as the only Savior and hope for the world. Another critical essential is the presence of biblical truth that influences the content of our words and lifestyle. These two influencers are what advanced God’s Kingdom for the last 2,000 years. They also produced martyrdom for the saints of God down through history. These essentials will have the same effect today, sadly from opposing camps within the Church that were planted in our midst by the enemy as disrupters and dividers of the faith.
A defining and redefining is taking place within the Church while the world appears ready to spiral out of control. As this process begins, make sure when it is finished you are standing on the Lord’s side, not on the side of the opinion of any camp. This may require that you step away from some relationships and the traditions used to form the opinions of your current camp – opinions that misinformed your identity and created a false sense of unity.
In this defining and redefining, a supernatural simplification will take place that will lead us to a place of greater clarity and freedom. The process will upset the religious spirit that holds many camps captive to the traditions of man at the expense of Lordship, the truth of God’s word, and the history of the Church. When all is stripped away only the Lord and His truth will remain. If, after the defining and redefining happens all that we possess are those two magnificent possessions, we will have more than enough to change the world.
Well said. Thank you! may we the bride of Christ ome through all of this leaning on our beloved Jesus!
Thank you, this is confirmation of a recent decision. Breaking camp is not always easy but sometimes very necessary. 😊
I couldn’t carry the type of “religion” the church teaches with me through the losses and trials I’ve been through. He is my savior, and I know His peace. It’s very simple…childlike.
As I went through heavy situations… I refused to give up on my relationship with Him. So one by one the religious trappings fell off. More like got pried off. Each pressing left less and less room for man made ideals of who God was and what it meant to be His child. It got to the point where there was nothing…and I do mean nothing… left to hold onto.
The reason we wrestle so much is because we are holding onto everything and trying to keep God in the mix.
Just let everything else drop. It isn’t worth the guilt, the weight, the battle…
Worrying and trying to figure things out doesn’t work. Pushing, planning and plotting gets us no where.
Our emotional overloads and emotional rationalizing just places us further away from Him.
Its His word only and His presence.
If you are making decisions biased on emotions mixed with the word… its idolatry. Its a mixed faith.
You have to drop the emotional decision making and understand exactly what God says about every situation.
It is his word. His presence.
That means spending a heck of a whole lot more time in his word, ALL of the word. Searching out every matter till you find the answer.
Then aligning your will/emotions with that word.