SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING WE ALREADY HAVE
Today I must confess that I was planning on writing on something entirely different, yet I believe this discussion needs to happen. Today I want to give relationship advice to those who are already saved. That’s right, I want to directly talk to only believers, people who have been born again and are saved by having faith in Jesus Christ. There are many of us who have been looking for something that we already have!
Right now Christians all around the world are struggling to find solid ground in their life. It is as if we have left our foundation in Jesus Christ, and have gone into the world seeking for an alternative. For many this is exactly what has happened. They seek solace, comfort, and security in political figures, nations and even false religions all in the attempt to find answers. Answers for something they already have an answer to. James wrote, “what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.” James 4:1-2a. Why is this? It is because born again believers are not being actively dependent on the Lord. We are having a religious affair, we have placed someone higher than God in our lives. What a shame!
Many claim that God is silent and does not answer our prayers, however are we seeking what is right or what will fulfill our wrong intentions? Once again James in chapter 4 states, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?” James 4:2b-4. I believe this strikes at the very soul of our issues today. Some have turned God into an app to be used when needed for a short duration, while others have all together abandoned God.
American Bible Society found that “In 2019, over one-third of American adults (35%) said that realistically they never use the Bible outside of a large church service or mass. In January, that number was statistically unchanged. However, by June of 2020, that proportion had fallen to 31%. Additionally, many Scripture engaged adults were finding it difficult to maintain their relationship with the Bible. The proportion of Americans who use the Bible daily also fell to fewer than one in ten (9%), the lowest number on record during the ten years of the State of the Bible research study.” Reports are surfacing that they believe over 50% of those who did read their Bible prior to 2020, will no longer read their Bible by 2021. I will be frank with you, I do not believe all these people were born again, rather individuals who were practicing religion and not having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. John writes about this in 1 John 2:18-19, “18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but [they went out] that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”
However, these statistics do have some overall reflection of those who are born again. We have left our first love for something that is foreign. We seek alternative truths rather than keeping our eyes set on who is coming. We need identify that our relationship with Jesus Christ is hurt. Thankfully, Jesus is mightier than anything those of us who are saved can mess up. He is capable of restoring such a deviated Christian. Yet, while our relationship is not beyond repair, our authenticity and capacity to be used by Christ in a positive nature is in danger. The first thing we need to do is repent and ask the Lord to heal our relationship (not create, but heal what is permanently there) and we need to seek what He says. His Word is your only true source of truth! You and I need to be in communion with other brothers and sisters in the body of Christ! We need to seek God first in all things we do at the start of each day! It is interesting that Lamentations 3:22-23 states, “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” His mercy is new each morning, so let us match His mercy with a desire each morning to be with the individual who loves us more than we could possibly imagine. Great is His faithfulness! Let it not be wasted on a wretch like you and I! Let us seek His face first thing everyday! Then as the day progresses and life happens, we can reflect back on what Jesus Christ said to us earlier that very day!
I am so very glad that many of you are walking in the truth of God’s Word and His commandments, and I am encouraged by those who have stayed the course. However, I believe we are in need of guarding ourselves from idols and things that can ensnare us from keeping our attention on our beloved Jesus Christ.
I want to end today not as a rebuke, but as a warning to those who are believers and are straying from the Lord. Turn back for Christ loves you enough to do what is necessary in order to have you seek Him again. A Shepherd will break the leg of a lamb that continues to run away and into danger. While the leg is healing, the Shepherd will carry the little lamb and take care of the lamb. This will continue until the lamb’s leg is healed, for rest of its life the lamb will never leave the side of the Shepherd and where he goes, the lamb goes. Us as believers need to recognize who is our good Shepherd and not follow after false hope.
For those who have abandoned the faith and have sought after the world, let me implore you to find Christ! For He is the only salvation of this current world. This term salvation has a dual meaning, first it means for salvation of the soul; to have someone have a spirit of life inside (which is only a born again believer). But it also means salvation from this world. Only in Christ can you find salvation to escape what is coming for this world. Without Jesus Christ your hope is in nothing solid nor in anything tangible. This world cannot give perfection, only in Jesus Christ can you be declared righteous and escape what is coming.
If you have never received Jesus Christ, I would thank you for reading this today and encourage you to seek Jesus. He not only loves you, but has intentionally placed the craziness in this world to wake you up to the need of having Him in your life. He is the hope that never fails, He is the love that continues, and He is the comfort when all else is past. He is the what every person deep down inside knows they need. Being “good enough” is impossible, you can only be perfect but that perfection is found in only one person, Jesus Christ. Christ calls to everyone, “behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20. Ask Jesus to come into your life, ask for Him to save you, and watch how quickly He comes rushing with open arms to embrace you! If you have any questions please contact us here at MHMinistries@millhouseministries.com We would love to help answer your questions.
Remember, while the world looks like it is falling into chaos, this is the not so gentle push by God to wake us up to His soon snatching of His Church.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming.
JL