Proverbs 2:11 Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you.
Is Jesus the Lord in your heart, or is Jesus just one of the programs in the church building you attend? Are you trusting in Christ’s eternal redemptive gift for your soul, or is your belief in your denomination’s interpretation of what the redemptive gift is? Do you feel like you are stuck in churchiness because your spiritual life has become dry?
Maybe you have noticed that deep down in your soul, you have become stuck in a form of religiosity, and even the little spiritual life you think you have left has started to wane? Mark 4:25 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.
Is the strength of your faith in Christ, or is your strength in a spiritual-system you have created through your ego? A lot of people are stuck in church because they have created a fifth gospel so to speak. They have created their very own version of what they want to hear. Many have been cherry-picking bible verses that will allow themselves a carnal life that they can live with impunity. At this point in their faith, they can’t figure out why God isn’t blessing their life choices.
This self-made gospel will not work long, because the fundamentals of God’s full Gospel have been ignored. These people will end up stuck in church or stuck in the mess of their own making. Hag. 1:9 You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why? ” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
Some get stuck in this nowhere land, because of a traditional belief that was man-made and not inspired by God. This can hinder the rejuvenation of the soul that the Holy Spirit is trying to give life to. It makes it hard for the light of God’s word to make its way through the well-protected zone of personal dogma the heart has become used to.
The Samaritans were stuck in their idea of where the right location to worship God should be. John 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman at the well. He went right to the issue and pointed out that the whole idea of worship was not about a location, but rather, it was a matter of the heart. True worship was directed toward God the Father led by the Spirit. John 4:23 But an hour is coming, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.
This belief in the location of worship had evolved in Samaria from an event in their history. It was not an instruction from God. It was brought into their faith because of a political move. Solomon’s two sons had split the nation into two kingdoms. Israel in the north, led by King Jeroboam, and Judah in the south, reigned over by King Rehoboam.
Jeroboam did not want his people travelling to Jerusalem in the south to fulfill their religious obligations and be influenced to move there. Therefore, he created a place of worship in Samaria to appease and keep control of the people. 1Kings 12:27 If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and go back to the king of Judah. Here are two groups of people stuck in church per se, because their political history made it so. Their location of worship was not handed down as a law from God but was created out of jealous politics.
Jesus cuts through the traditions of men and brings us freedom and life of the Spirit in our hearts. Christ helps us break free from the man-made ordinances that keep us stuck in a rote repetitious religion. The salvation plan of God frees us to follow the whole word of God. Our God is looking for a heart who will love and bless the Lord in truth. This true worship will keep us all from getting stuck in the churchiness that sometimes becomes an empty mainline belief.
Jesus cuts through the traditions of men and brings us freedom and life of the Spirit in our hearts. Christ helps us break free from the man-made ordinances that keep us stuck in a rote repetitious religion. The salvation plan of God frees us to follow the whole word of God. Our God is looking for a heart who will love and bless the Lord in truth. This true worship will keep us all from getting stuck in the churchiness that sometimes becomes an empty mainline belief.
We need to understand the difference and be spiritually sagacious. Prov. 2:11 Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you. The Spirit of God will give us the understanding needed to stay in right-standing with God through Christ if we ask for it. To get unstuck, we need to detach our hearts from the man-made traditions that do not give our souls life. Feed on the purity of Jesus, so we can choose life and live in truth, and not be stuck in church. Blessings.
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