Where is the Church?

Where is the Church in these troubled times? Let me first define the Church and start by telling you what it is not. It is not a religious institution, it is not a denomination and it is not a building. The Church is a living entity made up of people who have bowed their knee to the Lord of Glory, the Risen Christ, the Son of the Living God. You can belong to a religious institution, a denomination and you can go to a building called a Church, religiously but yet not be part of the Church.

Christianity Is Not A Religion

While I am at it let me clarify for those that do not know. Christianity is not a religion, although by most it is classified as one of the religions of the world. Religion is devil-inspired and man-made, created by man in an attempt to reach God, ALL religion is futile. You cannot reach God on your own, you cannot deny yourself, inflict pain upon yourself to reach Him, none of that works. You cannot save yourselves. So, if Christianity is not a religion, what is it? It’s a personal relationship with God through His Son. Religion is man’s attempt to reach God. Christianity is God reaching down to man, providing the Way back to Himself at the cost of great sacrifice. That sacrifice was Jesus giving up His life for you and for me and every person who has ever walked the planet. He was innocent, without sin, we are anything but innocent and sin was our nature.

I could continue but hopefully that gives you some insight. Now, onto the topic at hand. We have established that the Church is made up of every person who has accepted Christ into their lives and turned from their way to His on an ongoing basis. So, where are those people in this troubled time in which we find ourselves?

Waiting For God

Most and by most, it is likely in the range of 99% are waiting for God to do something about the current situation. If we are waiting for God to do something we will be waiting forever. What? That is correct, God is not going to do anything, He is waiting for His Church to do what He commanded them to do. The work of God is complete, now it is in our hands, God works through people who know Him. People are waiting for the obstacle, mountain in their lives to be moved but God tells us to speak to the mountain, nowhere in Scripture does it tell us that God is going to speak to our mountains. No, but it does tell us to speak to the mountain.

Mark 11:23 Jesus said; That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Faith Is Voice-Activated

Faith is voice-activated, you don’t necessarily speak to the mountain one time, you may have to speak to it multiple times. The key to the mountain moving is not great faith, no, it is not doubting, staggering or wavering, or being halted between two opinions. We the Church have authority in this present world.  There is a god of this world, satan, but the Church has the right and authority to enforce the victory that Jesus accomplished over him.

The Best Counterfeiter

Understand this, the devil is not some powerful force, no he is a liar, a deceiver, he is subtle. his power is deception, he is the best counterfeiter. The Church has been to some degree deceived by the devil. What do I mean? The devil wants the Church to think and act as though they have no power, no authority, that they are a fort and they are just barely holding on. That is a lie, the Church it seems for the most part is waiting for Ephesians 5:27 to become true. V.25 Even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it. V26 That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, v27 That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

It seems that a lot of believers believe that the Church will become glorious when it is taken out of this world, that all of a sudden it will be changed into this church described here in Ephesians 5. That is not the case. There is not some event that is going to happen that causes the Church to become this glorious Church. No, the event already happened when Christ died, was buried, and raised from the dead. That is the very event that makes the Church the Glorious Church, it has already happened and the Church is Now that Glorious Church. The Church is without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing and is without blemish, right now. Here is the kicker, unless the Church sees herself as that Glorious Church she cannot and will not act and do what the Glorious Church is mandated to do.

A Key To The Christian Life

At least one of the keys to the Christian life is seeing yourself as God sees you, He sees you in His Son. He sees you without spot, without wrinkles and without blemishes, Not, by what you have done but by what Jesus has already accomplished. Jesus is the archetype. What does that mean? It means He lived His life as a man anointed of the Spirit of God, He won the victory for us, He conquered death, hell, and the grave. He was manifested to undo, destroy, loosen, and dissolve the works of the devil. That is not something He is going to do; it is what He has already done. He demonstrated what a Believer is to live life like, we are equipped to live as He did. His death, burial, and resurrection, and His sitting at the Father’s right hand verifies that. He sent the Holy Spirit to reveal these Truths to our hearts, to make known, what He wanted to share with His disciples, but they were not able to grasp or understand. Now it is time to act.

Time For The Church To Rise Up

All of that to say this, the Church has to rise up and walk in this. We need to take the God-given authority over the demonic forces at work in our government, take authority over the spirits working in the lives of those who are supposed to represent us. They either yield to the working of God in their lives and repent, or retire for some unknown reason or are literally carried out feet first. They need to understand the fear of God and not the fear of man. This Nation was founded upon Godly principles. The Church has the weaponry to deal with these conditions. First and foremost, we have the Name of Jesus. We must speak the Name of Jesus over our Nation, over those who are supposed to represent us, over our families, and friends, our neighbors. We have to break the darkness; these people are not in charge. The Church is in this world to withstand the forces of darkness and not in the sense of holding out. No, the Church is to rise up and take authority in the Mighty Name of Jesus.

This is not about sitting around whining and crying about the situation, but it is about speaking God’s Word over our Nation and rising up and standing as the Glorious Church. Quit being mealy mouth, stop begging and pleading with God to do something. We are not waiting on Him, He is waiting on us. He has equipped for such an hour as this. No more just a nominal Christian, today is the day to rise up and live as the New Creature in Christ that you are. Don’t settle for just walking through the door, there is a vast storehouse available to us as believers. We have been commissioned to continue the work that Jesus began.